Epson Boobytrapped Its Printers (opens in new tab)

(pluralistic.net)

29 pointsURfejk3y ago13 comments

13 comments

Anyone working on a free and open 3d printable printer? Let's just download this car already and begin ignoring these vampires.

URfejkOP3y ago

That would be great. I could finally start printing my own banknotes. :)

superchroma3y ago

Yeah, I'm ready.

albert_e3y ago

How are companies operating in a competitive market able to get away with this blatantly anti-consumer behavior.

It's not like there are high barriers to entry in this market, nor there is any exclusive licensing or access hurdles -- like telecom spectrum, or fiber lines for ISPs. Nor are there any compatibility exclusions (proprietary connectors, protocols or walled gardens).

thrashh3y ago

A good printer requires good components and that costs $$$

For most people, they want a printer for convenience but not enough to pay good money for good parts

So this market of shittier printers with cheap parts exist. While I hate cheap inkjet printers, they did work enough for what I needed them for and they didn’t cost a fortune… so the market continues to exist

/shrug

superchroma3y ago

US government willfully asleep at the wheel and not exerting anything more than minimum regulatory pressure.

nicolaslem3y ago

It is a dying market though.

bzzzt3y ago

With al these planned obsolescense gimmicks I’d think the replacement market will be there quite a while.

baileycoffee3y ago

Consumer grade printers are a barren wasteland of planned obsolescence and anti-consumer practices. I recommend everyone that needs a printer in their home spend the extra couple of hundred dollars and buy an office grade printer. The difference between our current HP OfficeJet color laser printer/scanner/copier (cost about $450) and our previous cheapo under $100 consumer grade ink jet printer is unbelievable. Well worth the extra cash and it’s a total workhorse that feels like it’ll last for years.

bediger40003y ago

I will view HP printers suspiciously if I'm ever in the market again, and I won't consider Canon unless everything else is a poor fit. Both brands just make it hard for no good reason. Canon in particular makes using their printers with anything other than Windows arbitrarily difficult.

tailspin20193y ago

For what it’s worth, I’ve always had good results from Brother printers (both B&W and colour laser). They seem to be no-nonsense and reliable in my experience. Even their very cheap models. And no issues working with Macs.

Can't vouch for other types eg. inkjet models though, as I try to avoid those!

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13 comments

fezfight3y ago

Anyone working on a free and open 3d printable printer? Let's just download this car already and begin ignoring these vampires.

URfejkOP3y ago

That would be great. I could finally start printing my own banknotes. :)

superchroma3y ago

Yeah, I'm ready.

albert_e3y ago

How are companies operating in a competitive market able to get away with this blatantly anti-consumer behavior.

thrashh3y ago

A good printer requires good components and that costs $$$

For most people, they want a printer for convenience but not enough to pay good money for good parts

/shrug

superchroma3y ago

US government willfully asleep at the wheel and not exerting anything more than minimum regulatory pressure.

nicolaslem3y ago

It is a dying market though.

bzzzt3y ago

With al these planned obsolescense gimmicks I’d think the replacement market will be there quite a while.

baileycoffee3y ago

bediger40003y ago

tailspin20193y ago

Can't vouch for other types eg. inkjet models though, as I try to avoid those!

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