Re: need a new printer, but how to configure?

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Patricia M Godfrey  on Sat, 13 Dec
2003 10:18:27 -0500


> Holmgen

HolmgRen, if you please.

Nice post to Polly. I'm personally a little uncomfortable to have ladies
feeling that they must, finally (if nobody else steps forward), assist other
ladies -- but jeez louise where do you start with such a query? I mean, I
didn't notice anybody exactly LEAP FORWARD to volunteer to maintain a printer
compatibility list, per my (very good) suggestion the other day. But that's
exactly what we're talking about here -- the truth is that no one of us can be
specific about "the printer to buy". We only know our own printer, and it's
probably three years old. Secondly, the safe XyRoute is Hewlett-Packard. I
would NEVER buy any other printer. But I'm reluctant to say that because H-P
is more expensive generally than, say, Epson -- and PCL machines are by
definition not as cheap as WinPrinters. I hate to lose users simply because
they impulsively buy a $79 InkJet instead of a $299 (or $599) LaserJet -- but
that's what is happening, steadily. Legacy operations are becoming more, not
less, expensive. All that money we've been saving from not buying the latest
version of WinWord, is now going to go to Hewlett Packard. Somebody needs to
say this aloud. We're headed into a manufacturer-conspired cul-de-sac, and the
only thing that's saving us from extinction is the user base of Linux and OS/2,
which compels some manufacturers to still make printers with brains and
cross-platform capabilities, which generally (albeit almost coincidentally, as
a side effect) include also DOS apps.

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Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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