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First they brick machines on purpose by requiring on-brand ink. Now this? I hope they are sued. Repeatedly.

by voakbasda 3y ago

nikanj 3y ago
No point in suing them unless you have more cash for lawyers than HP does. And you probably don’t.
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago
  Surely that's what small claims is for?
crazygringo 3y ago
No they didn't. I'm not defending HP at all, but let's stick to facts. HP didn't brick any machines because of ink choice. They prevented them from working with off-brand ink, but the printers worked properly again once HP ink was inserted. "Bricking" is permanent, but the ink thing wasn't. "Bricking" was a disappointingly widespread misconception in the thread from 7 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35931468 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35931468 Again, I'm not condoning the ink thing at all, but "bricking" is not what was happening. HP is already bad enough, we don't need to spread false information on top of it.
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago
  I dunno, I think preventing it from functioning - even "temporarily" until the ransom is paid - qualifies as a soft brick.
  - crazygringo 3y ago
    There's no such thing as a "soft brick". To paraphrase one of the replies to the comment I linked to stated, calling something a "soft brick" makes as much sense as calling something a "soft pregnancy". It either is or it isn't.
  - Gigachad 3y ago
    Bricking means that the device is as functional as a brick. Which to me means broken in a way the user does not know how to fix.
- alex7734 3y ago
  You buy a printer that you _know_ worked with offbrand ink when purchased (because it did), then one day HP remotely updates _your_ printer that you paid for and now it doesn't (and of course you are not allowed to revert the update), making it completely useless for the purpose it was purchased unless you go and pay HP for their extremely overpriced ink. Your printer may work but now it's almost cheaper to throw it away and buy another one than refilling it. The only way it could be worse would be if HP decided to triple their ink price the same day. If BMW updated and locked your car unless you used BMW branded wiper fluid (i.e. water) they'd be sued and scorned all the way to outer space, but somehow when a printer company does it it's okay.

First they brick machines on purpose by requiring on-brand ink. Now this? I hope they are sued. Repeatedly.

nikanj 3y ago

No point in suing them unless you have more cash for lawyers than HP does. And you probably don’t.

yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago
Surely that's what small claims is for?

crazygringo 3y ago

No they didn't. I'm not defending HP at all, but let's stick to facts. HP didn't brick any machines because of ink choice. They prevented them from working with off-brand ink, but the printers worked properly again once HP ink was inserted. "Bricking" is permanent, but the ink thing wasn't. "Bricking" was a disappointingly widespread misconception in the thread from 7 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35931468 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35931468 Again, I'm not condoning the ink thing at all, but "bricking" is not what was happening. HP is already bad enough, we don't need to spread false information on top of it.

yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago
I dunno, I think preventing it from functioning - even "temporarily" until the ransom is paid - qualifies as a soft brick.
- crazygringo 3y ago
  There's no such thing as a "soft brick". To paraphrase one of the replies to the comment I linked to stated, calling something a "soft brick" makes as much sense as calling something a "soft pregnancy". It either is or it isn't.
- Gigachad 3y ago
  Bricking means that the device is as functional as a brick. Which to me means broken in a way the user does not know how to fix.
alex7734 3y ago
You buy a printer that you _know_ worked with offbrand ink when purchased (because it did), then one day HP remotely updates _your_ printer that you paid for and now it doesn't (and of course you are not allowed to revert the update), making it completely useless for the purpose it was purchased unless you go and pay HP for their extremely overpriced ink. Your printer may work but now it's almost cheaper to throw it away and buy another one than refilling it. The only way it could be worse would be if HP decided to triple their ink price the same day. If BMW updated and locked your car unless you used BMW branded wiper fluid (i.e. water) they'd be sued and scorned all the way to outer space, but somehow when a printer company does it it's okay.