HP, which has created bad practices in the printer industry, is testing some great printer-related ideas

Nowadays, printers are rarely used, but industry giant HP has been criticized for updating its firmware to make its printers useless unless they use genuine ink cartridges. Ars Technica has reported that HP is testing a useful printer-related idea.

In rare move from printing industry, HP actually has a decent idea | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/09/in-rare-move-from-printing-industry-hp-actually-has-a-decent-idea/

The printer industry is stagnating. The reason is simple: at the time of writing, almost everything is digital, so printers are not used as much as they used to be. Changes in how information is stored and shared, changes in how we communicate at home and in the office, and growing environmental concerns are major headwinds for the printer industry.

But technological, economic and social changes aren't the only reasons for the printer industry's decline. 'Printers and their features have become boring for the average consumer, and it's been so long since we've seen any useful new features related to printers,' Ars Technica writes.

In addition, HP, a major player in the printer industry, has been a major factor in destroying the trust between the printer industry and customers by engaging in a number of practices that are unfavorable to consumers. HP's most egregious practice was to use firmware updates to prevent third-party ink cartridges from working on HP printers. Genuine HP ink cartridges were twice as expensive as third-party ink cartridges, causing dissatisfaction among users.

HP launches update that causes printers to refuse to print when non-genuine ink is used, sparking user anger - GIGAZINE

HP faced lawsuits from customers over the matter and was ultimately forced to pay $1.35 million in fines and compensation to customers.

Lawsuit filed over HP printers blocking third-party non-genuine ink with firmware update - GIGAZINE

By Justin Baeder

The system that HP printers use to detect third-party ink cartridges is called ' Dynamic Security .' However, because of Dynamic Security, some have called for HP printers to be removed from the ' EPEAT ' certification, which is a certification that indicates that electronic products are environmentally friendly.

Despite this situation, HP continues to assert the usefulness of Dynamic Security at the time of writing, and the company's Enrique Lores continues to make the unrealistic claim that ' third-party ink is a cybersecurity threat .'

HP has also drawn criticism for restricting the use of its printers' scanning and faxing functions unless the printer is fitted with HP-made ink cartridges.

HP faces lawsuit claiming that it is unfair that printers can no longer scan or fax when they run out of ink - GIGAZINE

HP, which continues to have bad practices in the printer industry, is offering users a 'feature to easily improve printouts,' Ars Technica reported. The feature is called 'Perfect Output,' and is distributed as a beta software driver and is only available to some users. Ars Technica praises 'Perfect Output,' saying, 'It could be a useful tool to simplify and speed up certain types of print jobs.'

'Perfect Output' is one of the AI features called 'HP Print AI ' that HP just announced on September 24, 2024. Perfect Output is a function that allows AI to remove unnecessary elements such as advertisements when printing web page articles, documents, tutorials, spreadsheets, etc., allowing you to print with a cleaner and more natural layout.

Below is an example of a normal web page printout. The margins and advertisements get in the way, and you end up printing many pages unnecessarily.

In such a case, by using Perfect Output, AI can automatically remove unnecessary elements such as advertisements and white space, making it easy to create concise printed materials. HP also claims that the number of printed pages will be reduced, which will save time, ink, and paper.

In the case of spreadsheets, tables and graphs may be printed across multiple pages.

However, with Perfect Output, AI can automatically adjust and print tables and graphs so that they don't split across pages.

Ars Technica said, 'If Perfect Output works well, I think people will become more interested in printing. Recently, printing has been accompanied by various stresses. If we can eliminate some of these problems, it will lead to a renewal of the printer's reputation and will renew the image of printing from a hassle that can be avoided to an easy task.' 'It is unclear whether this function works exactly, but it at least has a clear purpose and target, and it seems to be a function that is sufficient to solve the annoyances experienced when using a printer.'

'I remain skeptical about whether Perfect Output will be perfect when it's released to the public, but ideas like this are something we should be seeing more of from the printer industry, which is struggling with a shrinking business market,' Ars Technica summarizes.