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My last two HP printers weren't actual purchases. I inherited them from family members who couldn't make them work consistently. Sadly, I'm too cheap to just throw them (and the ink) out.
The next time I actually buy a printer it will not be from HP, largely because of the software crap you describe.
Software Zen: delete this;
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charlieg wrote: who has decided you cannot using what you just bought without an online account _and_ an internet connection.
This is why I refuse to replace my wonderful, ancient, HP inkjet with a newer model. Sadly, any printer manufacturers seem to be going this route. The whole automatic re-ordering of ink is another thing that annoys me.
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You are so right, Charlie. HP was the premier provider of equipment and services when I was designing test systems for the DoD, along with Tektronix. As quality providers, neither still exists so far as I can tell.
Will Rogers never met me.
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I loved HP Test Equipment (Hughes Aircraft Missile Systems 82-85). Tektronix was the only digitizer we used as well.
We were working with one of HP's new HPIB counters, and the code in it was so messed up. I finally tracked an engineer down for the product and sent him a list of defects. One example: you can trigger going high or low, but I finally figured out that they had them backwards. The engineer *tried* to play down the issue, said "well, you can fix that in your code right?
I pointed out that for the $$ charged, why was I having to dick up my code because of his crappy code? To his credit, he did not hang up on me.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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Exactly the same WTF I had a couple of days ago.
You can bypass it with the windows integrated scan software, but still.
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My sympathies, it sounds like a total pain. And apologies might be due to bananas also, yes? x
Paul Sanders.
If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter - Blaise Pascal.
Some of my best work is in the undo buffer.
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I just scanned a document without creating an account or logging in, using HP Smart, to verify this.
And as I expected, you don't have to create an account, you can cancel out of it and still scan documents.
It just looks like you need to create an account, but you technically don't have to agree with that.
After that, it doesn't prompt you again, as far as I can tell.
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model #?
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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I use Canon. It has none of those quirks.
Maybe they'll get ideas from HP, in future.
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I've always rated HP bloatware (it's self-bloating) as worse than useless since I got an HP compact camera years ago. I downloaded, then ran the software for the first week before uninstalling it. Worst UI and slowest application software I've had the misfortune to use in 50 years of assorted computer use. PS the camera had the shortest battery life of any battery-powered device I've ever used!
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Printers first be like
90s, i got a personal printer at home. oh no, my computer does not have that specific port 😞
early 2000s, USB printer 😲, nice, plug and noooo, driver not work, install this, and download this, and then maybe.
win 7 2000s, USB printer that drivers just work 🫡
win 8, nah just kidding.
2000-2010s - wifi printer 😲, and find and connect to printer on network without fuss
win 10 - ha ha, you thought things just going to work. also we change the find printer menu to match the UI of rest of Windows, not necessary making UI intuitive
late 2010s, internet enabled printer. 😲 make print so easy
2020, in a cold cold bunker, the 3 only printer companies (all others subsidiaries of them), realise they can remotely commander printers, thus course correcting the annoyance by the leak of printer ink not actually low
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I work for the US Air Force and we've had HP printers as long as I can remember (20+ years). It'll be interesting to see what the govt ends up doing because we have a LOT of printers that are on classified networks that obviously have no Internet access. It always amazes me when companies make decisions like this that they just have to know is going to alienate them from many of their customers. Baffling...
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You can buy a non-internet printer from HP. It's just twice the price clearly pointing at small office. The internet required ones tend to be the cheap versions.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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That's not new. Smart doorlocks failing because of an internet outage ain't even news anymore. The HP one is harmless by comparison.
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Failed as in would not unlock?
I know it's almost semantics, but the printer is not failing. It disables itself until it can phone home.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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I consider a lock failed if it doesn't let me bloody in (and apparently, safety overrides weren't in place) and yup, that's what happened.
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All you need to know about HPs crapware stack is that at one point it was bigger than the OS it infected. Rumor is that they were really ![Elephant | [mastadon]](https://codeproject.freetls.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/elephant.gif) ing mad when microsoft's Vista team outbloated them in '06.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
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Dan Neely wrote: All you need to know about HPs crapware stack is that at one point it was bigger than the OS it infected.
Yep. I "experienced" that personally. Well... semi-personally. Years ago, my sister-in-law (against my advice) bought a cheap HP laptop on black Friday. Out of the box she complained about how slow it was. Begged me to "fix" it on Christmas day while at the in-laws. It took me several hours but the result was a decently fast, lean machine.
A week later she called HP support because she couldn't get a USB printer to work. They had her insert the system DVD to run some app and it re-installed the whole bloody mess (and still didn't fix the printer issue).
This time I had her bring me the laptop, printer and DVD. In my leisure, over the next week I de-crapified the laptop (again), got the printer to work and threw away the DVD  . It ran fine for about 4 years before one of her kids poured Kool-Aid into it and let the smoke out. I considered that a merciful death.
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You have to take an historical average.
In the ‘70s, I bought an HP 10c calculator. I was so enamored of RPN that I bought another so I could carry one in my briefcase (we used those, too). I do not remember if I ever had to even change the batteries except once when I was fiddling with it and dropped one of the buttons under my desk. I still use both of them, even for *date* calculations.
And then there is the CP2025 laser I bought in 2008, which has never even jammed.
HP is just making up for accidentally making unprofitably reliable things for years.
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I only use Cannon printers and with one exception, in all these years have had no issues with them. They just work and last...
Since Carly Fiorina destroyed HP, I never considered their equipment...
Steve Naidamast
Sr. Software Engineer
Black Falcon Software, Inc.
blackfalconsoftware@outlook.com
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I have owned several HP printers over a lifetime. One I accidentally murdered while trying to clean. That was my fault. A second, perfectly functional HP all-in-one had to be discarded because HP decided to stop producing ink cartridges. You couldn't even refill them because they had a microchip that said how old they were. Another seized up and it cost the same amount to have repaired as to buy another one.
HPs installation software has always been a nightmare. I wonder how my grandma with no MS CS and no 40 years of experience could possibly install one. Ink cartridges way overpriced, and they know it, because they attempt to defeat refilling.
I bought a brother all-in-one b&w laser printer for less than the cost of either of the last two HP printers I've owned. Easy install, zero hassle, no problems in over a year. And (I hear) the toner cartridges are refillable. I wouldn't know for sure though, I'm still on my first one.
Bought an HP computer once. Obsolete the day I purchased it, wouldn't run Win8.
I have finally learned my lesson. The only reason I gave HP so many chances is because their test equipment was well regarded (I used to work for a competitor).
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I'd never buy any HP scanner or printer after they were borking printers that used third party ink cartridges. Just get yourself a Canon scanner (I've got a LiDE 400). It works under Windows and in Linux (I use VueScan software on both OSes).
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HP,
The company I learned to admire back in the 80's, capable of designing and producing amazing test equipment and other outstanding electronic products, turned into a cheap consumer manufacturer after 2000, when they split the business, spinning of Agilent Technologies, lately revranded Keysight.
A truly sad ending for what once was a company to look up to. Speaking about the decadence of the west...
alfyvr
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I think you are underestimating their position as a contender; they are clearly the winner of the stupidity award.
First, I have a problem with the "print from anywhere" sales pitch. Well, maybe it's a great idea, but they should also provide me with a robot that can go to the printer, grab the paper, stick it in an envelope and FedEx it to me. I'd have to wait a day for it, but I suppose they could fax it to me, which would mean I have another printer sitting next to me that I could have printed directly to in the first place. Seems to me the purpose of a printer is to print a hard copy you need to have access to or do something else with. If it's just a 'record' copy, save it and print it when you're next to the printer.
I needed an all-in-one for a second location that I'm at only about 1/3 of the time. It isn't going to print maybe 100 pages a year. I bought the HP because it was hard to justify spending more money for something where cartridges will dry out before they run out of ink. My primary Canon Image Class puppy was a floor model from a big-box and it still has the starter toner in it two years later. If my wife didn't print recipes on it, it would probably never need new cartridges
The loss for them is my $129 junk purchase is going to cost them in future hardware recommendations; not going to happen.
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