HP refusing to provide printer drivers for Photosmart 1115

[Guest]

Hello all & Microsoft,

I have been trying to download a driver for the HP Photosmart 1115. HP say:

We are sorry to inform you that there will be no Windows Vista printer
driver available for your HP product. Therefore your product will not work
with Windows Vista.
If you are using the Windows Vista operating system on your computer, please
consider upgrading to a newer HP product that is supported on Windows Vista.
HP has numerous products on the market that support Windows Vista:
http://www.hp.com/united-states/tradein/home_flash.html

This is outrageous, I am going to have to junk my perfectly good printer.
Can some pressure be applied to HP...its only writing a printer driver !

Alex

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http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/co...microsoft.public.windows.vista.print_fax_scan

 

[David Hearn]

Hello all & Microsoft,

I have been trying to download a driver for the HP Photosmart 1115. HP say:

We are sorry to inform you that there will be no Windows Vista printer
driver available for your HP product. Therefore your product will not work
with Windows Vista.
If you are using the Windows Vista operating system on your computer, please
consider upgrading to a newer HP product that is supported on Windows Vista.
HP has numerous products on the market that support Windows Vista:
http://www.hp.com/united-states/tradein/home_flash.html

This is outrageous, I am going to have to junk my perfectly good printer.
Can some pressure be applied to HP...its only writing a printer driver !

Alex

If it's 'only writing a printer driver' then I'm sure you can do one
yourself!

HP launched that printer in 2001:
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2001/011001b.html

Therefore that printer model is over 5 years old.

First, have a think about what goes into developing drivers. Whilst you
may 'only' spend 4 weeks writing the code for the drivers, you then need
to fully test it. This may itself take a month or so to get completed
(don't forget you need to schedule time in the test lab, get the
equipment etc). Now test it on 64bit Vista, thus doubling the testing.

So, a rather conservative estimate is maybe 3 man months to develop a
printer driver for a class of product.

Now count the number of products HP has produced since 2000 and multiply
that with 3 man months per product.

Then weigh up the fact that, whilst you're spending all this time
writing drivers, your developers are unable to be working on drivers for
next month's new products. Add in the fact that you'll have to support
those drivers for the next X years (MS provide 10 years of support for
each OS delivery).

And finally, you're aware that those products are old, and you're aware
that by not developing Vista drivers, you may be able to encourage some
people to purchase new printers etc.

All in all, this seems to suggest that you're spending quite a
significant amount of money to support reasonably old products (in
computing 5 years is quite a while) and whilst doing so, reducing the
market for new products.

Had the product been released in 2005, then it would be more of a
problem. Don't forget - this particular printer was released prior to
Windows XP!

And finally - HP are not forcing you to dump your printer. They have
provided support up to and including XP. No one is forcing you to use
Vista, if you don't want to spend £100 on a new printer, then don't
spend £200 on Vista.

Oh, and really, I do mean finally! You may find that the XP drivers
will work in Vista. *May* being the important point! I'm running the
XP drivers for my HP LasjerJet 1200 as the MS drivers for this printer
were generic and not very good (read, impossible to print more than 1
copy of a document, even if you selected multiple copies in the print
options). Going to the XP drivers, everything worked fine. I've not
checked in the last few weeks to see if HP have released new Vista
drivers for it.

Hope that helps,

David

 

[Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User]

HP are a law unto themselves.. they also want to sell new products..

 

[Hugh Wyn Griffith]

When and if you install VISTA I suggest you just take a deep breath and
see what happens.

I can't speak for old printers but I just installed VISTA Business RTM
with my very old HP SJ 5P scsi connected scanner using an old Adaptec
19160 controller card and both were detected by VISTA device manager
and showed up without any flags.

The only thing I had to do to get the scanner to work perfectly, as it
has done under XP, W2K, WIN98 and probably WIN95, was to install the
old HP Deskscan 2.9 software and bingo it scan and copies beautifully.

I'd be surprised if your Photosmart printer did not work also. Maybe if
there are some special features in the HP XP driver they may not be
available if VISTA does not set it up fully with what it has on board
but in that case I would try installing the XP sofware package that
came with the printer and see what happens.

PS If necessary you can buy an HP PS 8250 printer from NewEgg at the
moment for $75 .... wonderful 6 color printer with ink tanks.

 

[Guest]

I have a photosmart 1115 printer as well. It doesn't work with Vista. I
just bought new ink carts for it, it did work great under XP. This is
absurd, I DON'T WANT A NEW PRINTER, this one works fine, Microsoft you got
me again with Vista, Please provide the correct print driver!!

 

[Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User]

ken

MS are not responsible for hardware drivers.. the hardware manufacturers are
fully responsible.. take it up with HP..

 

[David Hearn]

4 things, similar to what I said to the original poster.

1.) Microsoft do not write drivers. That's up to the hardware
manufacturers to do.
2.) No one (certainly not Microsoft) forced you to move to Vista
3.) The printer was released over 5 years ago (ie. before Windows XP)
4.) The printer still works in XP, so nothing has suddenly broken the
printer

D

 

[Jeffrey S. Sparks]

Try choosing the HP Business jet 1200 it worked for my photosmart 1215

Jeff

 

[Hugh Wyn Griffith]

Vous ferriez mieux de poster dans les groups de langue Francais qui
existe.

I have my very old HP SJ5P working by using the old Deskscan 2.9
software which uses TWAIN -- this worked for me in Windows 2000 and in
XP and I see others posting for Epson scanners that TWAIN is the answer
there.

If you search through the folders for General and for Hardware here for
HP you will find a number of useful suggestions and you may find that a
later driver from HP will work on your earlier devices.

Before you write off HP see what others are saying about Canon and
Epson who are giving the same answers.

 

[Mike]

I can relate to your fury! I get the same message with my HP scanjet 3300c
scanner. Nice way to lose customers for HP. I think; why would I want
another product from them when they are not willing to write the driver for
a perfectly good scanner?

 

[Guest]

As consumers, we actually have the final decision power: I took my new
VISTA-loaded HP computer back when I discovered all the cmpatability
problems.

Hp blames VISTA, MS blames HP, no-one wants to support old printers....FINE !
I don't need to spend my money to be frustrated.

Int the past, I have always used PCs, but this is nmow a big incentive for
me tro check out Macs and alternative PC operating systems.
have you noticed the relative directions of MS, HP, and Apple stocks lately ?

 

[Kirk]

So why not stick with XP if you're having such problems. I'm able to do
just about everything I need to with my HP-7210 using the native Vista
drivers. Assuming HP ever does come out with a full software package, then
I'll be happy. But right now I'm doing just fine.

Kirk

 

[Jeffrey S. Sparks]

Try using the Builtin Businessjet 1200 printer driver. I have an HP
Photosmart 1215 (the version right after the 1115) and it works fine with
that driver.

This is a problem with HP not Microsoft as MS is not responsible for writing
drivers for other companies devices. It just sucks because we as consumers
get caught in the middle during an upgrade of this type.

Jeff

 

[Guest]

This is a problem with HP not Microsoft as MS is not responsible for writing
drivers for other companies devices. It just sucks because we as consumers
get caught in the middle during an upgrade of this type.

Actually, from the information I have gathered, it s a WORKS 8 (8.5 ?)
problem. WORKS spreadsheets are refusing to print under many different
brands and models of printers.
HP does bear some responsibility, in that they seem to have marketed
computers without even verifying that HP printers work with the software
bundled with the computer. But every other application, even other WORKS
documents, print fine....just not spreadsheets.

HP also loses credibility by not having VISTA-ready software ready for even
recent model printers. The VISTA-supplied print driver works OK with my PSC
2210, but I have lost all the bundled productivity software, such as HP
Director, that came with the printer.

There is enough blame to go around; it just pisses me off that there has
obviously not even been a minimal basic set of tests done on this new
op-system.

 

[Guest]

I recently upgraded my PC and it came with Windows Vista. I have three HP
peripherals (2 printers and 1 scanner - the latter being an expensive item,
less than 5 years old). NONE of the three will install, because HP provides
no drivers for them compatible with Windows Vista. Incredible!
Just some comments about David Hearn's points:
1. Microsoft may not write drivers, but it seems they have some
responsibility to their customers to produce operating systems that are
compatible with existing equimpment - be it HP or other brands.
2. I beg to differ. Older versions of Microsoft's operating system become
increasingly incompatible with various applications, forcing users to upgrade
in order to function. When I purchased a new PC, Windows Vista was my only
choice.
3. I called HP, and was told that they don't plan to provide any
Vista-compatible driver upgrades for any of their products older than 24
months (not 5 years). Now that's ridiculous! I don't care how much time it
takes to provide an appropriate driver, HP and MS have the resources to do it.
4. The new PCs I hade to choose from don't come with Windows XP. Besides,
if I did get a copy of XP, it's just a matter of time before MS quits
providing support and upgrades, and I'll have to get Vista anyway.
The bottom line is that HP and MS are in this to make as much money as
possible, and the more often they can get everyone to buy new software and
hardware, the better it is for them. They have little motivation to do
otherwise.

 

[Guest]

The 1115 works great with the HP Photosmart 7200 driver included with Vista.
Install by saying you want to pick your own driver. Select HP and then
select the 7200. (There may be other HP drivers that it will work with also,
but this one works perfectly with my Vista setup.) So...it is even more
outrageous that HP won't "provide" a driver, as it already has drivers that
work with the 1115. They just want you to dump a perfectly good printer! My
next printer will not be a HP.