[oclug] [OT]Inkjets

[Milan Budimirovic]

I just saw this article on InfoWorld.

  http://weblog.infoworld.com/foster/2003/11/25.html#a54

The high cost of InkJet ink is nothing new, but this latest trend is
absolutely appalling. That once-revered companies like Hewlett-Packard
and the Seiko Corporation (which owns Epson) would stoop to deceptive,
heavy-handed business practices such as this is all the more
disappointing. This would be like Honda selling cars that were
electronically rigged to accept only Honda-brand gasoline, which of
course cost four times as much as the "generic" stuff.

Actually, this is not all that off-topic, because the issues that arise
in this case are identical to what we face in Free/Open Source software.
People are being sued under the DMCA for reverse-engineering the
microchips that allow you to refill your printer.

Also, pies in the faces of all the computer publications that routinely
review the latest "must-have" inkjet printers without ever mentioning
the cartridge scam, let alone addressing things like the per-page cost
of operating the unit.