Post #73,841
1/10/03 6:21:44 AM
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Creative.
There's been some noise in Australia about the sale of third-party ink cartridges, but the heat has been around cheaper, non-authentic originals that damage the printer. An Epson repair place was quoted in APC a few months ago about how many printers he sees for repair that are almost ruined.
Of course, mentioned along the way was that there is a trend for the cheapest printers to have the most expensive consumables... I, personally, only buy real Canon ink for my BJC-6000, but then I quite deliberately chose a printer with a) separate ink tanks for each colour and b) the cheapest ink. :-)
I've also seen interesting problems with recycled toner cartridges for a HP IID a number of years back. They never ever lasted as long and the toner they filled them with was rarely as good. We got a fuser unit replaced that I'm was very unsure really would have needed to be replaced if we were using real HP cartridges. Admittedly it was a fairly hard working printer and no-one looked after it except me, but still, the genuine cartridges always worked better.
Wade.
Microsoft are clearly boiling the frogs.
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Post #74,090
1/11/03 11:12:14 PM
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Classic FUD: competitors' parts break HW
The claim that the competition's supplies / parts / repairs /\r\ncomponents break products is a classic FUD angle. It was the standard\r\nline with toner refills in the last decade, it's the standard song and\r\ndance with ink carts today. I suspect it's about 99% bullshit.\r\nReplacement toner/ink vendors will vary in quality, but someone's got to\r\nbe able to compete on price and quality sans marketing and printer\r\ndevelopment costs. \r\n\r\n That said, the current printer market is very much based on razer\r\nblades (give away the razor, sell the blades at a premium. Income\r\nstream generation. \r\n --\r\n
Karsten M. Self [link|mailto:kmself@ix.netcom.com|kmself@ix.netcom.com]\r\n
[link|http://kmself.home.netcom.com/|http://kmself.home.netcom.com/]\r\n
What part of "gestalt" don't you understand?\r\n
[link|http://twiki.iwethey.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/|TWikIWETHEY] -- an experiment in collective intelligence. Stupidity. Whatever.\r\n
\r\n
Keep software free. Oppose the CBDTPA. Kill S.2048 dead.\r\n[link|http://www.eff.org/alerts/20020322_eff_cbdtpa_alert.html|http://www.eff.org/alerts/20020322_eff_cbdtpa_alert.html]\r\n
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Post #74,112
1/12/03 9:58:33 AM
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Re: Classic FUD: competitors' parts break HW
I was under the impression that the courts had decided that disallowing competitors' replacement parts was illegal, regardless of all the faff about the DMCA...
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #74,186
1/12/03 9:27:40 PM
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It's FUD, but there's an element of truth there.
I've little doubt that there are third-party ink fillers who don't care if the ink damages the printer. The APC article I mentioned had a picture, IIRC, of just such a damaged Epson print-head. However, some ink-fillers objected saying that they run extensive tests to make sure their ink doesn't damage the printer.
So who to believe? :-) Well, that's the UD of the FUD.
Wade.
Microsoft are clearly boiling the frogs.
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Post #74,193
1/12/03 10:15:51 PM
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A bigger element of truth than that
The printer makers do what they can to ensure breakage if you don't use their stuff. Often with success.
And then blame that breakage on the people who try to reverse engineer how things work. Often they succeed at that as well.
Kinda the same trick that Microsoft pulls...
Cheers,
Ben
"good ideas and bad code build
communities, the other three combinations do not"
- [link|http://archives.real-time.com/pipermail/cocoon-devel/2000-October/003023.html|Stefano Mazzocchi]
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Post #74,297
1/13/03 2:41:51 PM
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Re: "ensure breakage if you don't use their stuff"
My wife refilled a black Lexmark cartridge. It seemed to work OK for while and then declared itself dead with plenty of ink in it. I suspect Lexmark meters the flow and decides at some point that the cartridge must be carrying "evil fluids" and balks. The design policy is "Protect the revenue stream!".
Alex
"No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session."\t-- Mark Twain
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Post #74,349
1/13/03 9:12:56 PM
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Time to hack that Smart Cartridge CMOS: Reset to 0 usage?
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Post #74,353
1/13/03 11:21:29 PM
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Hmm... Gotta pay attention to this one.
Proposing violation of DMCA. He bears watching.
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Post #74,355
1/13/03 11:41:42 PM
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Norm, you're already on thin ice.
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Post #74,357
1/13/03 11:53:58 PM
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So sorry, but thanks for playing!
Nope, not Norm this time. Ask Scott if you don't believe me.
Scott, you have permission to verify who I am from my account.
Besides, I think it's time we took you aside for some, erm, reeducation, homeland security style...
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Post #74,544
1/14/03 9:25:02 PM
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Oops.. I feel a need to repent, convert, move to Utah: die.
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