That's fine Ric, if your HP Printer can use a generic PS5 or PS6 driver! My
HP LJ 1020, which is less than one year old, has it's own propriatory print
driver, the XP version of which refuses to install in Vista. So I have a
pretty new LaserJet Printer sitting doing nothing, except being a
paperweight, until HP get their act together and release Vista compatible
drivers!
As for going out and buying a new printer, this very same model line is
still being sold by HP today, it's not as if it's an obsolete model! You can
walk into any computer store and pick up the same LaserJet 1020 Printer
today and still not get drives for the latest OS from Microsoft! Again what
was HP doing last year when Vista was in Public Beta? It's not as if the OS
hasn't been around for long enough to be available to HP's developers to use
for developing compatible drivers! That's at lease one reason MS released
Beta versions of the OS so that 3rd party Hardware and Software companies
could get their hands on the code to start developing compatible drivers and
software!
If Canon can release drivers for their printers within days of the launch of
Vista, why can't HP?!?!? Did HP just ignore the impending launch of Vista
until it was actually released, or what? It will certainly make me think
twice about investing in any sort of HP kit in the future.
I do also have an HP ScanJet 3500c flatbed scanner, which HP, in their
corporate wisdom, have decided in too obsolete to both about. They have
decided not to develop a full featured scanner driver for this model, though
they have released what they call a 'basic' driver that at least allows
basic TWAIN scanning in Vista, but a lot of the tweaking of the scanner is
missing in this driver completely. Also the buttons on the front of the
scanner no longer do anything! Again I'm less than impressed by HP, the
scanner is only just 3 years old and is in perfectly good condition and
still works excellently, so I would expect it to work for at least another 3
to 5 years before it needs replacement! But curtesy of HP, it's now pretty
much obsolete!
From another miffed HP customer!
Jonathan.