Generic printer drivers

[Tony29]

Given that there are many posts related to the eye-opening realisation that,
if you have a printer that works beautifully on XP (Or earlier) you will not
be guaranteed that same full functionality of the printer once you adopt
Vista, what is going to be done about it? I have an Epson CX3650 that Epson
state will never have a full functioning Vista driver developed by them - I
can no longer do draft prints (and a whole pile of other problems to which
people have already referred on this forum). So, who is our printer driver
supplier now - Microsoft?

It's no use saying - use the Microsoft auto install; use the drivers
supplied by the manufacturer - there is no tecnical solution to overcome this
disregard for the client community which is being demonstrated by Microsoft
in collaboration with printer manufacturers.

The question to the forum is - how do you get Microsoft to provide fully
functioning drivers for printers that they (for marketing purposes) want to
have in their pool of In-box drivers? Is there an anti-trust issue here?

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Microsoft does not develop drivers for third-party hardware.
They are obtained from the hardware manufacturer. If a printer
manufacturer chooses not to develop drivers, it is not the
fault of Microsoft. Microsoft provides detailed guidelines
to hardware manufacturers to develop drivers for Vista.
If a hardware (printer) manufacturer does not wish to fully
support its legacy products, then your issue is with the manufacturer.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows System & Performance

---------------------------------------------------------------

:

Given that there are many posts related to the eye-opening realisation that,
if you have a printer that works beautifully on XP (Or earlier) you will not
be guaranteed that same full functionality of the printer once you adopt
Vista, what is going to be done about it? I have an Epson CX3650 that Epson
state will never have a full functioning Vista driver developed by them - I
can no longer do draft prints (and a whole pile of other problems to which
people have already referred on this forum). So, who is our printer driver
supplier now - Microsoft?

It's no use saying - use the Microsoft auto install; use the drivers
supplied by the manufacturer - there is no tecnical solution to overcome this
disregard for the client community which is being demonstrated by Microsoft
in collaboration with printer manufacturers.

The question to the forum is - how do you get Microsoft to provide fully
functioning drivers for printers that they (for marketing purposes) want to
have in their pool of In-box drivers? Is there an anti-trust issue here?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Given that there are many posts related to the eye-opening realisation that,
if you have a printer that works beautifully on XP (Or earlier) you will not
be guaranteed that same full functionality of the printer once you adopt
Vista, what is going to be done about it? I have an Epson CX3650 that Epson
state will never have a full functioning Vista driver developed by them - I
can no longer do draft prints (and a whole pile of other problems to which
people have already referred on this forum). So, who is our printer driver
supplier now - Microsoft?

It's no use saying - use the Microsoft auto install; use the drivers
supplied by the manufacturer - there is no tecnical solution to overcome this
disregard for the client community which is being demonstrated by Microsoft
in collaboration with printer manufacturers.

The question to the forum is - how do you get Microsoft to provide fully
functioning drivers for printers that they (for marketing purposes) want to
have in their pool of In-box drivers? Is there an anti-trust issue here?

This has nothing to do with Microsoft. They don't write the drivers.
The issue is with the printer manufacturers. They are ones who develop
(or not) the needed drivers when a new operating system comes along.

It also has nothing to do with Vista. Exactly the same situation
occurs with every new operating system. Each printer (as well as other
devices: scanners, etc.) manufacturer decides for itself whether or
not to incur the trouble and expense of developing new drivers for its
older products. If the product is in current production, it probably
will develop them. If it's a little older, it may or not. And if it's
old enough, they will probably decide that's it doesn't make economic
sense to develop a driver for the new operating system.

No printer manufacturer will sell you a printer with a guarantee that
it will work with today's operating system and also with all new
operating systems that may be released in the future.

So whenever you buy a device like a printer or scanner, buy it with
the realization that although it may work with today's operating
system, it may or may not work with tomorrow's. For many people, the
lack of needed drivers for older hardware is a factor that stops them
from upgrading their operating system. And before upgrading,
*everyone* should make sure that they know whether all their hardware
is supported in the new operating system.

 

[Tom Ferguson]

If you want to be as sure as is possible that your printer will be supported
by each successive iteration of a given operating system, get either a
PostScript printer or a PCL printer. There is no guarantee, but at least the
balance of probabilities is with you.

Some XP drivers will install and work work if you disable driver checking
upon Vista start-up. However, this is only useful for testing purposes. It
is a very bad idea to have driver checking turned off for normal system
operation. It is a security issue.

As for the legal question-for advice upon which you intend to rely, consult
a lawyer. That being said, printer manufacturers are responsible for
providing device drivers for their hardware. Microsoft do test and
distribute some of these under some sort of "logo program" as a service to
their customs through the update facility.

Best of luck finding a suitable printer and driver.