I don't think the argument is a technical one. Most folks on HN probably have some appreciation of the immense vertical engineering investments that have made p

I don't think the argument is a technical one. Most folks on HN probably have some appreciation of the immense vertical engineering investments that have made printer technology so good. I for one am always quite astounded by the engineering. The argument is a commercial one. You're probably aware of the old "most expensive liquid on earth" list, that printer ink is, gram for gram, up there with human blood, Chanel No. 5, LSD and certain venoms. The point is that most people think that is insane, and that it is a business model that is skewed so that printer companies extract money from you based on how much you use the printer ("printing as a service") rather than the cost of the hardware. Imagine if Apple or Intel started charging customers per CPU cycle they used?