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There are a lot of comments here saying that printers and scanners are complicated! Really? More complicated than your microwave, fridge freezer, television? Mo

There are a lot of comments here saying that printers and scanners are complicated! Really? More complicated than your microwave, fridge freezer, television? More complicated than your car? Printers and scanners aren't complicated, it's just that we don't really need to use them much anymore... until we have to. 99 times out of a hundred I don't need to scan because I can just take a picture on my phone of any hard copy document. I don't need to print because people are happy to receive an electronic document by email. If I never had to drive again, I'm pretty sure I'd forget how to operate a car after a few years. If I'd never operated a washing machine in my life, I'm pretty sure I'd struggle to put on that first wash. Every time we have a power cut, and my oven refuses to work, because the clock is not set, I just push buttons randomly until it works. Instructions for resetting the clock are just not worth remembering, as it only happens once a year or so. There's nothing complicated about these devices. I used to bootleg VHS tapes by hooking up two player/recorders. That's a skill that's completely useless now. These devices are just becoming obsolete, so we don't bother learning how to use them. I'm pretty sure I'd be unable to start and drive a Model T Ford, and I don't see any shame in that.

TazeTSchnitzel 4y ago
Printers and scanners are massively more complicated than my microwave. It has two physical dials and a hefty spring-loaded button to open the door. It doesn't speak USB or any network protocol, it doesn't have ink cartridges or paper to replace, it doesn't link up to a computer or smartphone…
aerhardt 4y ago
> More complicated than your microwave, fridge freezer, television? Absolutely, none of those tend to crap out by merely looking in their direction! > There's nothing complicated about these devices Printers and scanners have had atrocious UX for as long as I've lived - going from driver installation, to the accessory software, to poor hardware build quality and questionable decisions by the makers that reek of planned obsolescence, poor regard for consumable economy, and other nefarious ploys. This applies to both the home and professional (office) markets in my experience. It's only in recent years where I've seen some printers or scanners where I've said to myself: "huh, you know what, this one ain't half-bad".
adrianN 4y ago
Well, my microwave never releases lovecraftian horrors instead of warming my food, whereas my printer regularly produces ancient runes instead of my documents.
phkahler 4y ago
>> There are a lot of comments here saying that printers and scanners are complicated! Really? So I recently bought a small printer - I think an Epson WF-110 - hoping to connect it to my Linux computer. I was worried because it can with a driver disk for Windows and macOS but made no claims of Linux compatibility. Once I figured out how to get it on my Wifi network (easy) it just appeared on Linux and I was able to print to it with ZERO setup on that end. Easy right? Nope. After sitting unused for a few weeks, it was being unresponsive. I tried turning it off, but the power button doesn't seem to do anything. Did I mention is wireless and battery powered for total portability? Unplugging it didn't turn it off. So I left it unplugged during a 2 week business trip to see if it will power up and function again when I get home. Assuming the battery will die by then. TLDR: Older guy couldn't turn off a printer that stopped responding...
midoridensha 4y ago
>Printers and scanners aren't complicated, You've never worked in a large corporate office with giant office printers the size of small cars, have you?

TazeTSchnitzel 4y ago

Printers and scanners are massively more complicated than my microwave. It has two physical dials and a hefty spring-loaded button to open the door. It doesn't speak USB or any network protocol, it doesn't have ink cartridges or paper to replace, it doesn't link up to a computer or smartphone…

aerhardt 4y ago

> More complicated than your microwave, fridge freezer, television? Absolutely, none of those tend to crap out by merely looking in their direction! > There's nothing complicated about these devices Printers and scanners have had atrocious UX for as long as I've lived - going from driver installation, to the accessory software, to poor hardware build quality and questionable decisions by the makers that reek of planned obsolescence, poor regard for consumable economy, and other nefarious ploys. This applies to both the home and professional (office) markets in my experience. It's only in recent years where I've seen some printers or scanners where I've said to myself: "huh, you know what, this one ain't half-bad".

adrianN 4y ago

Well, my microwave never releases lovecraftian horrors instead of warming my food, whereas my printer regularly produces ancient runes instead of my documents.

phkahler 4y ago

>> There are a lot of comments here saying that printers and scanners are complicated! Really? So I recently bought a small printer - I think an Epson WF-110 - hoping to connect it to my Linux computer. I was worried because it can with a driver disk for Windows and macOS but made no claims of Linux compatibility. Once I figured out how to get it on my Wifi network (easy) it just appeared on Linux and I was able to print to it with ZERO setup on that end. Easy right? Nope. After sitting unused for a few weeks, it was being unresponsive. I tried turning it off, but the power button doesn't seem to do anything. Did I mention is wireless and battery powered for total portability? Unplugging it didn't turn it off. So I left it unplugged during a 2 week business trip to see if it will power up and function again when I get home. Assuming the battery will die by then. TLDR: Older guy couldn't turn off a printer that stopped responding...

midoridensha 4y ago

>Printers and scanners aren't complicated, You've never worked in a large corporate office with giant office printers the size of small cars, have you?