Shit. They've realized the err of making high quality products with long lasting, universal ink. Capitalism blows
this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2025
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Nooooooo I thought they were the ones NOT doing that. That was kind of their USP for me...
It was only a matter of time, there isn't enough competition in the market to punish such actions.
Hmm. I wonder if the decline of printer use is a factor.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39089971
Consumer printers are a dying market, in case you havent noticed. Sales are trending down roughly 25% over the past decade. HP itself has seen its printer revenue drop from $29B in 2008 to $18B last year. Unit sales have seen a similar decline.
This is what desperation looks like. Nothing they can do will reverse the trend--its bigger than a single company. HP has its numbers to hit.. but are completely powerless to make it grow. So they do things like this, trying to slow the decline for themselves personally... but push more consumers away, accelerating the trend and the decline of their business.
Only $18B, boo Fkn hoo, the line must go up is a cancerous blight..
Always disconnect any IoT devices you buy from the internet. Anything from cameras to switches to TVs to washing machines can and will be downgraded or killed at some point if you allow vendors to push updates without your consent.
Why does my printer need any connection to the internet ever? WTF does it need "firmware" for that is not related to criminal stalking and data collection? This sounds as stupid as IoT toasters and toilets.
Networked printers are very common, so if there is a vulnerability exposed to the network the printer can be exploited and infect other machines, or copy all printouts etc
Printers only need a LAN connection. There is no need to give them internet access.
My LaserJet is from '08 and still works great with just a USB (or parallel port... lol). It even does an occasional toner transfer or transparency for printed circuit boards. They making 17+ year printers any more
It is nice to have a discoverable printer on the network that anyone can print to from their laptop or phone. I use that feature all the time, especially on d&d nights
WTF does it need “firmware” for
Printing, pretty much every printer ever made has firmware. Your keyboard probably has a firmware.
Pretty sure in this context it's referring to firmware updates. Which is how Brother screwed over their existing customers
Apparently the quotes were not enough to make the oversimplification blatantly obvious
Everything with a processor has firmware. Unless you're running a screw type press to print from your PC then your printer has firmware.
Obviously, but a state machine is not a filesystem as the connectedness implies
Outdated firmware about to be a top torrent of the week lmao
It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them. Bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness.
I was recently considering replacing my color laser printer from 2006...sounds like I'm keeping it a little longer. It's coincidentally made by brother, but I doubt they're updating that firmware anytime soon.
Accused? It happened, what’s the accusation?
So that's why my printer nags me to update firmware.
God fucking damnit, same shit different shitty company. Thanks for informing, I'll never recommend this brand again.
Asking because I know nothing of programming, how hard would it be to write a new firmware for a printer?
Glad I decided against brother printer recently. How Kyocera doesn't follow, so far it seems fine?
Best advice I can give about printers: If it works out of the box, it doesn't need a firmware update. Firmware updates for printers are only ever to screw third-party competition. I've owned my printer for years, and it's still in its OTB state. Coincidentally, I've never had a problem using third-party ink.
All corporations are out to exploit you any way possible. None of them are to be trusted to behave in an ethical manner.
Brother eww.