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HP, please, just give me the darn drivers!

Posted on November 7, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

My MacBook came along with an HP Photosmart C4280 printer/scanner/copier/hot water maker. Seems like a nice device, especially for free. Setup was fine, until I had to actually install software that accompanied the printer. Here’s the stuff that got installed:

hpinstall_screenshot.png
I understand that for 90% of the customers, this is desirable. The “HP Scan Pro” helps get you up and running with a scanner. HP Photosmart Edit is a nifty little tool for photo manipulation. Ink monitors help me… well, ok, they help HP sell more ink. But I get it, and again, for the majority of users, this is the absolute correct product decision.

However, it would take NO additional work for the company to include the drivers as a standalone file on the CD, or downloadable from the Web site.  This option is not available.  Granted, life is better than on Windows where I’d be scared to uninstall anything for fear of missing DLLs and whatnot.  I have a hunch the thinking went like this:

We are HP, we make a lot of money selling ink. We should, therefore, include tools to help sell ink. How about an ink monitor?  It’ll tell the user when they need ink.

Sounds good.  Ship it.  But wait, what if the user doesn’t want the application?

Doesn’t matter. Gotta sell the ink.

It’s the same kind of logic that had early-stage Internet portals debating whether or not they should link out.  Of course they should make it easy to get ink, but the more they empower me and give me overall product satisfaction, the longer they’ll have me as a customer.  When designing your product and experience, remember that short term wins are just that: short.

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4 thoughts on “HP, please, just give me the darn drivers!”

  1. tivoboy says:
    November 8, 2007 at 6:57 am

    Well, company’s trying to install LOADS of junk is nothing new, but what is very annoying is, that HP DOES INDEED offer just a simple driver install, for WINDOWS but not for macs. ALmost every HP printer that I have put on my “integrated” network allows me to DL JUST the driver for WINDOWS, but offers only the complete package for mac.

    Nice thing with the mac is, you can drag and drop delete. Just make sure the one file for the printer is in your printer library – everything else is bunk. However, disclaimer, there might be programs that monitor ink levels and whatnot, which may require the software. Your call on that one.

    Reply
  2. Dave Zatz says:
    November 8, 2007 at 12:57 pm

    “Nice thing with the mac is, you can drag and drop delete.”

    If only it was that easy EVERY time. I had a problem with a Canon scanner. Delete the application, think you’re done, but there’s still some obscurely name processes running. Took me awhile to find those files and kill them. I’ve also tried FoxTorrent a few times… Deleting the Firefox extension isn’t enough to remove it either. Must kill the RedSwoosh process and then dump the app. And lots of these guys seem to leave things in various personal or library directories, though they don’t do much (hopefully).

    Jeremy, let us know how that device works out despite all the bloat. I’m in the market for something new. I don’t suppose the scanning features work if you network the AIO to an Apple router?

    Reply
  3. Dave the Gadget Guy says:
    November 8, 2007 at 4:34 pm

    So, on my Mac Mini sportin’Leopard living room PC, I installed Leopard drivers for my HP Photosmart 2710 too-much-in-one that was found via Bonjour and by going that way, it did not install all of the crapware HP thinks is cool (but hangs and crashes my Windows XP (do not buy the Sony Vaio SZ-460N with Vista) machine…

    This printer is Ethernet connected, but Apple generally does a nice job with USB drivers too; like with my old Epson photo printer.

    Reply
  4. Lora Barr says:
    December 27, 2007 at 4:14 pm

    I bought the HP Officejet 6310 printer and couldn’t connect it to my HP Pavilion laptop. I called HP support three times and they were very nice but not helpful. Some expert from SupportSpace eventually install it for me, and all he needed to do is add some drivers – how come HP support didn’t manage to connect HP printer to HP laptop and someone from SupportSpace did it (I had to pay additional $25 to get it installed)? They are not professional with their own technology…

    Reply

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About

Jeremy Toeman is a seasoned Product leader with over 20 years experience in the convergence of digital media, mobile entertainment, social entertainment, smart TV and consumer technology. Prior ventures and projects include CNET, Viggle/Dijit/Nextguide, Sling Media, VUDU, Clicker, DivX, Rovi, Mediabolic, Boxee, and many other consumer technology companies. This blog represents his personal opinion and outlook on things.

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