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HP Launches Ink Patent Violation Manhunt
BlueCup writes to tell us that Hewlett-Packard has deployed a large team consisting of many scientists and many more lawyers looking for possible ink patent infringement. With more than 4,000 patents on their ink formulations and cartridge design and a market share of more than 50 percent in the US HP depends heavily on the sale of ink to make profit after sometimes selling their printers at a loss in order to lock in the ink resale.
I met a traveller from a silicon land
Who said: Two life-sized cutouts of cardboard
Stand near Palo Alto. Near it, at 367 Addison Avenue,
Half sunk, a shatter'd garage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on a pedestal in Cupertino these words appear:
"My name is Carly Fiorina, queen of queens:
Look on my works, Bill and David, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, outsourced and bare,
The stock options stretch far out of the money.
Guess what happened?
Yep, it fell apart. Within six months, too. The printer was in a completely unfixable state as the head no longer moved on the track. I tried to find the problem, but eventually just gave up and threw it away. I then bought a cheap Lexmark that has been working ever since. (And God do I wish I could get rid of printers altogether. I use it so rarely that I get maybe 50 pages out of a $40 cartridge! %#@$# ink "lifetime" timers.)
Basically, HP cashed in on their reliability reputation, and is now paying the price.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Just to screw HP, we bought replacement inkjets as they came on sale (which placed them cheaper than the replacement ink).
Then we started needing to do high quality work and switched to a Konica Minolta Magicolor 7450. The consummables are cheaper per page, and it even runs in Linux. Ever seen a printer with its own hard drive? It's just wicked cool.
We haven't looked back at HP since.
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
Um, buy a laser?
I won't be buying another ink-jet printer....ever*. I wouldn't even get 50 pages out of the inks before it clogged and reported problems, or 'empty'.
I have a solid Samsung Laser (1610 maybe?) I bought 5 *years* ago. Still going strong. only B & W but hey, I don't need color all that often (that's what work is for...ha).
My next purchase will be a laser 'all in one' that will be B & W too. Mostly because I'm not ready to shell out $500-700 for the all in one color monsters for my own small needs.
*Unless you need to do uber-quality photo prints, ink-jets are relics.
People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people
Inkjet printers are shit. They've pretty much always been shit, they will continue to be shit. It's the zen of printing. I've owned Epson's, Canon's, and I work on HP's for a living. HP is the best of a bad lot in inkjets. They're all cheaply made disposable electronics, plain and simple. There are no servicable parts outside of the cartridges and maybe, if you're lucky, the print head. So building in the level of quality a consumer should expect just isn't cost effective anymore. Oh how I wish it was....
Now, when it comes to lasers, HP still makes some decent kit. But it's not 1993 anymore. You can't buy a full size Laserjet 4 and expect to run it for the next 12 years. But their big iron is still the class of the market. I've got 4050's and 8100's that have run in the millions of pages and are still faithfully chugging along. Even the smaller laserjets (the 1300 series in particular), while a royal PITA to work on, are for the most part are relieable. That's more than can be said for Lexmark, Tally, or any of the other builders. There have been debacles (Ever seen a laserjet 1100? Actually, ever seen a laserjet 1100 that's not in the process of being thrown from a rooftop?), but they're still the class of the industry, like it or not.
I am just a bit sad that I think of HP as "the printer guys." Back in the day they were all about innovation. we're having good luck with their switches, maybe there's still hope.
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
Couldn't agree more regarding inkjets in general. I was getting sick of spending $100/yr in ink easily (only expected to increase as kids advance in school), constant head cleaning operations (using more ink!), and calls from home while at work over printer issues.
I resigned to buying a laser - even at the loss of color. Then I discovered that color lasers are now affordable - I was shocked to be able to buy a Dell color laser for $300 shipped (no tax). Toner should last about as long as the printer at the rate we print - we have photos printed at walmart since it is generally cheaper and quality is superior. Only a few cents per page even in color.
Inkjets don't make sense any more - sometimes you have to spend money to save it - and you don't need to spend all that much...
My $99 Samsung ML-1710 uses $40 of toner per year (that's $80 every two years)
if you steal from one source, that is plagiarism, if you steal from many, well, that's just research.
They may rock in the workplace, but I personally won't use one in a more confined space (like, say, a home office) due to the toxic emissions they create. Especially with small children in the house. I'd rather pay for the difference with money, rather than my health!
I chose to end my comments, not with a rim shot, but a long decaying F#7sus4