So rather than just push a super simple firmware update that disables the always online need, they'd rather just stop selling it, and probably brick these printers in a year or so when they discontinue the service.
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Has hp ever done anything to suggest they give a shit about users beyond milking them for all they're worth?
They did provide good first party Linux support where other printer required the use of hacky reverse engineered drivers. Other than that...
https://support.brother.com/g/b/faqend.aspx?c=us&lang=en&prod=dcpl2550dw_us&faqid=faq00100556_000
Both Brother and Samsung drivers are fine IMO, haven't had any problems for 10 years at least with printer drivers on Linux.
And I stopped using HP already in the 90's.
Maybe a dumb take, but I think milking customers for all they're worth is much better option than what HP is seemingly doing
which is milking them for all they're worth this quarter.
Like, there are companies with a cult like following (Valve comes to mind) and while they could probably increase profit for a quarter or two, they seem to be playing the long game fairly well. Which is ultimately better for everyone
they get more money over your lifetime, and you get a product that you're happy with.
Oh, Brother!
Love your Brother. ;)
They're also starting to offer a subscription only printer service in my country
<Insert here the "you were the chosen one" meme>
Good news: their printers never die. You can get a Brother laser printer that's 10 years old off a site like eBay and it will still be printing just fine in 2050. Mine is so old, it's USB 1.0.