[wplug] printers (was: NOTICE: bla bla bla)

Rick Smith rick at rbsmith.com
Wed Jan 10 11:18:24 EST 2001


On Tue, Jan 09, 2001 at 08:17:32AM -0500, Weber, Larry A wrote:
> [...] I made the mistake of questioning some Linux abilities (such as
> why it is so hard to get a printer to work with the op system and apps). 

When hearing the reply you got, did you feel frustrated, wanting either
some insight to the problem, or commiserating with people who've
experienced the same?

If you are wanting insight, then I can offer you what I've heard from
friends who work at a printer maker.  If you're wanting to show up at
a Linux user's group and question Linux's abilities (instead of
questioning the problem: having printer work with Linux), and you are
surprised that the people in attendance have opinion about Linux's
abilities, then I'd suggest you go to a printer club as you may find
commiseration there when wanting to question Linux's abilities.

The gist of what I hear from friends working on printers:
  1. Linux isn't supported because of market share (this position fading)
  2. How do we open up open source driver development in a way which
     doesn't hand over our technology to our competitors?
  3. We are doing it, figuring out how to develop part and let OSS
     developers work on part.  Yet it takes time to come out.

That you feel pain can be part of the solution to the problem.
Printer companies want to sell printers (and of course, supplies).
People in the Linux community are doing what they can do.  If you
want things to go faster: let your printer vendor know what you
would like supported.  Let them know many times.  Let them know
in a way that says "Here's more business for you" instead of "You
are idiots".  Tell your friends to do the same.  Do your best in
the meantime -- learn about what printers do work well with Linux,
and use them.  Vote with your wallet.  And let the printer makers
know.  Your choices will expand in the future.

It's not going to be fixed because of changes to Linux.  You
can interpret me saying this as a techie child, or as insight from
someone who worked in the peripherals industry for 17 years and
still has a fair number of connections, your choice.  Both are true
from my perspective. :)

-- Rick

nugget extracted from:

On Tue, Jan 09, 2001 at 08:17:32AM -0500, Weber, Larry A wrote:
> I have been reading some of the replies sent in repsonse to your
> "Organizational ..." email and I cannot say I am surprised with them.  I
> have attended a couple wplug meetings and installfests and can say I got the
> impression that I was not welcomed to be there.  I made the mistake of
> questioning some Linux abilities (such as why it is so hard to get a printer
> to work with the op system and apps).  I got the impression that the wplug
> 'members' were basically techie children and don't want others playing in
> their sandbox.  They feel they can do great things but don't challenge them
> to accept responsibility.  This may be a characteristic of the open source
> community.  I see the same type of people at Perl conferences. 



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