Epson not supporting Vista

[babaloo]

Anyone contemplating Vista who has Epson hardware should check out their
site. Epson is not planning drivers for many products that are even 1-2
years old, abandoning more scanner users than printer users.
"If your product is not listed here, it is not supported by Windows Vista"
means Epson is not bothering to write a driver.

 

[Al Bundy]

Anyone contemplating Vista who has Epson hardware should check out their
site. Epson is not planning drivers for many products that are even 1-2
years old, abandoning more scanner users than printer users.
"If your product is not listed here, it is not supported by Windows Vista"
means Epson is not bothering to write a driver.

The devil is in the details there baba.
I see that Epson is supporting many printers going back years and
years and they have the downloads ready. I can see they are short on
some newer models and what they are saying is VISTA is not compatible
with them for some reason, not that Epson refuses to produce the
software. I admit I don't know what that is about yet. But these
things change and after all, the new OS was only introduced yesterday.
I'm sure not in panic mode as I use old stuff, and not Epson with
their clogs.

 

[ato_zee]

I admit I don't know what that is about yet. But these
things change and after all, the new OS was only introduced yesterday.
I'm sure not in panic mode as I use old stuff, and not Epson with
their clogs.

Isn't it something to do with Vista needing MS$'s signed drivers?

Maybe Epson think if we can afford Vista hardware, and pay for
a new bloated OS needing even more memory,
they can rip us off by making us buy new printers.

Writing drivers
would cost Epson money, the bean counters say that selling us new
Vista compatible printers will make money.

 

[Andrew Rossmann]

Isn't it something to do with Vista needing MS$'s signed drivers?

Maybe Epson think if we can afford Vista hardware, and pay for
a new bloated OS needing even more memory,
they can rip us off by making us buy new printers.

Writing drivers
would cost Epson money, the bean counters say that selling us new
Vista compatible printers will make money.

It also depends on what Vista comes with. You may be able to use drivers
for another model, but may lose a few features.

 

[ato_zee]

It also depends on what Vista comes with. You may be able to use drivers
for another model, but may lose a few features.

Unlikely, printers handshake with drivers, model, ink levels, etc.
Look at a printer with the official Epson service utility and you
will see a lot of information about the printer that is hidden from
the user.
Often you need the printer connected to install the driver so that
the driver can interrogate the printer.

 

[Jan Alter]

Unlikely, printers handshake with drivers, model, ink levels, etc.
Look at a printer with the official Epson service utility and you
will see a lot of information about the printer that is hidden from
the user.
Often you need the printer connected to install the driver so that
the driver can interrogate the printer.

Rather frustrating to not see the Epson scanner (Perfection 1260) I'd bought
not listed as one of the models Epson would support with Vista drivers. It's
actually a very nice scanner and just 5 years old. I said the same thing
about the Umax I'd used for Win 98 (5 years ago) and was disappointed when
I learned Umax wasn't going to write a driver for it for XP. I paid $500 for
that Umax. Fortunately the Perfection was only about $130.
So I wrote Epson today and they simply reiterated that they had no driver
available for the 1260 with Vista. Perhaps if I could gather all the 1260
users together and we petitioned Epson they might reconsider. I wonder if
there are any ground rules or laws pertaining to how long a company in
business needs to support its peripherals to work with an OS, or for that
matter a new OS coming out on the market.

 

[DK]

Rather frustrating to not see the Epson scanner (Perfection 1260) I'd bought
not listed as one of the models Epson would support with Vista drivers. It's
actually a very nice scanner and just 5 years old. I said the same thing
about the Umax I'd used for Win 98 (5 years ago) and was disappointed when
I learned Umax wasn't going to write a driver for it for XP. I paid $500 for
that Umax. Fortunately the Perfection was only about $130.
So I wrote Epson today and they simply reiterated that they had no driver
available for the 1260 with Vista. Perhaps if I could gather all the 1260
users together and we petitioned Epson they might reconsider. I wonder if
there are any ground rules or laws pertaining to how long a company in
business needs to support its peripherals to work with an OS, or for that
matter a new OS coming out on the market.

Why would anyone want Vista to begin with? Does transparent shimmering
and winking interface that eats up enormous amount of hardware
resources offer any advantages in terms of accomplishing daily computer
tasks?

I still have W2K at work and I have not found anything useful in my home's
XP that would warrant an upgrade. In fact, making XP look and behave more
like 2K only seems beneficial in every respect.

DK

 

[Cari]

Many of the drivers for older Epson models are included in the Vista O/S.

 

[Jimmy]

Many of the drivers for older Epson models are included in the Vista O/S.
--

Okay, so where is there a list for those models or other devices being
supported natively in Vista? I don't want to put my money down on a OS only
to find many of my devices are not supported either by MS or by the various
vendors.

 

[Brendan R. Wehrung]

Anyone contemplating Vista who has Epson hardware should check out their
site. Epson is not planning drivers for many products that are even 1-2
years old, abandoning more scanner users than printer users.
"If your product is not listed here, it is not supported by Windows Vista"
means Epson is not bothering to write a driver.

Lexmark has a list of which priners will have Vista drivers, not including
my Z65. I just bought a Canon all-in-one as a replaement, assuming that
my Visoneer 71oo won't be supported either.

Brendan

 

[Brendan R. Wehrung]

Okay, so where is there a list for those models or other devices being
supported natively in Vista? I don't want to put my money down on a OS only
to find many of my devices are not supported either by MS or by the various
vendors.

What I don't understand is why Microsoft couldn't write an XP emulator,
just as Apple has no trouble with a Windows emulator so I can use PC
software on their boxes. Oh yes, then I could keep an old version of
Office, couldn't I?

Brendan

 

[Bill]

What I don't understand is why Microsoft couldn't write an XP emulator,
just as Apple has no trouble with a Windows emulator so I can use PC
software on their boxes.

Well, they've got this:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/evaluation/overview2004.mspx
but I don't know if it runs under Vista. It's free and there's a new
version in beta. Maybe it will run under Vista.

Oh yes, then I could keep an old version of
Office, couldn't I?

Brendan

Bill

 

[Jimmy]

Well, they've got this:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/evaluation/overview2004.mspx
but I don't know if it runs under Vista. It's free and there's a new
version in beta. Maybe it will run under Vista.

The 2007 version is still in Beta ... sort of like Vista come to think of
it.

 

[measekite]

Rather frustrating to not see the Epson scanner (Perfection 1260) I'd bought
not listed as one of the models Epson would support with Vista drivers. It's
actually a very nice scanner and just 5 years old. I said the same thing
about the Umax I'd used for Win 98 (5 years ago) and was disappointed when
I learned Umax wasn't going to write a driver for it for XP. I paid $500 for
that Umax. Fortunately the Perfection was only about $130.
So I wrote Epson today and they simply reiterated that they had no driver
available for the 1260 with Vista. Perhaps if I could gather all the 1260
users together and we petitioned Epson they might reconsider. I wonder if
there are any ground rules or laws pertaining to how long a company in
business needs to support its peripherals to work with an OS, or for that
matter a new OS coming out on the market.

There needs to be legislation passed similar to the type there is for
cars. Parts need to be made for a period of years after the model is no
longer made. Now we do have a somewhat different situation here but
really not that different. Vista is a new OS. A driver is really a
part. And I know it would be difficult to mandate that a part be made
for a future OS.

 

[measekite]

Rather frustrating to not see the Epson scanner (Perfection 1260) I'd bought
not listed as one of the models Epson would support with Vista drivers. It's
actually a very nice scanner and just 5 years old. I said the same thing
about the Umax I'd used for Win 98 (5 years ago) and was disappointed when
I learned Umax wasn't going to write a driver for it for XP. I paid $500 for
that Umax. Fortunately the Perfection was only about $130.
So I wrote Epson today and they simply reiterated that they had no driver
available for the 1260 with Vista. Perhaps if I could gather all the 1260
users together and we petitioned Epson they might reconsider. I wonder if
there are any ground rules or laws pertaining to how long a company in
business needs to support its peripherals to work with an OS, or for that
matter a new OS coming out on the market.

Why would anyone want Vista to begin with? Does transparent shimmering
and winking interface that eats up enormous amount of hardware
resources offer any advantages in terms of accomplishing daily computer
tasks?
[/QUOTE]

You need to think a little so put on your hat. Some people would like
to see true multitasking and that can only be done with a multi core CPU
or Dual CPUs. Others just want 64bit computing for many reasons. VISTA
is a 64bit OS (can also run 32bit software) and most of the new software
will be 64 bit. So that is the main reason. And yes a slick new
interface is nice to have.

I do think that VISTA is way over priced and the editions other than the
top two are a waste. Why with those you cannot even connect to a local
server.

I would like to see the Linux distributions get a nice interface like VISTA

and then see 64 bit versions of all of the software that VISTA has like
Photoshop, Acrobat

and a Linux Visual Studio and SQL server type with a nice IDE. And they
will also need lot more support that is directed for all different
levels of technical people and users and not just systems people. Then
one has a real choice like $50 for SUSE enterprise or $400 for VISTA
Ultimate.

I still have W2K at work and I have not found anything useful in my home's
XP that would warrant an upgrade.

And as a matter of fact version 9 of Windows Media Player is easier and
simpler to use than the latest versions. Not as pretty but it is easier
to find things. Whenever these software companies try to make things
easier to use for the common user they do not find is easier and the
guru that helps them has more problems.

 

[Bob Headrick]

Okay, so where is there a list for those models or other devices being
supported natively in Vista? I don't want to put my money down on a OS
only to find many of my devices are not supported either by MS or by the
various vendors.

Too many for me to bother to list, but I counted ~ 330 Epson printers
supported in the "Add Printer" tool for Vista. List your printers and I
will check them.

- Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Perhaps if a group got together with a reasonable figure in mind for how
much they would be willing to pay if Epson updated the driver, that
might be more of an incentive for them.

If several thousand people stated they would pay $15 for an updated
driver, perhaps that might be something Epson would consider.


Art

 

[Jan Alter]

Perhaps if a group got together with a reasonable figure in mind for how
much they would be willing to pay if Epson updated the driver, that might
be more of an incentive for them.

If several thousand people stated they would pay $15 for an updated
driver, perhaps that might be something Epson would consider.


Art

That brings up an interesting point Art. How would one even locate owners of
a particular scanner? My budget doesn't allow full page ads in daily
newspapers. I doubt that if I asked Epson for the names of the registered
owners they would be so helpful. However, I think it's worth a shot and I'll
write Epson and see what they say. The situation brings up a valid issue
when a peripheral hardware company abandons software support of its products
as the mainstream OS company introduces its new product.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

I was thinking that the "power of the internet" might come to use here.

I've been giving a lot of thought to the issue of ewaste of late, and it
seems to me that somehow or other someone has to cover the cost of
drivers being written. As it stands now, it is advantageous for
companies NOT to write new drivers, and disadvantageous TO write them.

By not writing them, the hardware companies purge out a lot of older
hardware so they don't have to support it, keep parts for it, service
it, etc. This also causes people to have to replace the hardware with
new stuff. On the other hand, if they do write a new driver, the
expectation is it will be distributed for free. This costs them money
to create it and to distribute it, and if it breaks or has a bug, they
may also have to support it further.

I don't know exactly what the answer is, but a mixture of some type of
new business model and legislation is probably required.

For my thoughts on this and other issues with printing, ewaste and more,
you may be interested in reading an interview I recently was engaged in.
I should warn you my responses are long (total about 19 pages). Many
people told me they are reading it in sections ;-)

Art

http://www.npanet.org/public/interviews/careers_interview_262.cfm

http://stephenibaraki.com/cips/v17/art_entlich.html

http://blogs.technet.com/cdnitmanag...r-entlich-ms-mvp-in-printing-and-imaging.aspx


The first two are the same basic interview, the third refers back to the
second, but it has a comments and discussion area which has started to
expand upon the original interview.

 

[ato_zee]

I don't know exactly what the answer is, but a mixture of some type of
new business model and legislation is probably required.

Or we all move to Linux.