How are companies operating in a competitive market able to get away with this blatantly anti-consumer behavior.
It's not like there are high barriers to entry in this market, nor there is any exclusive licensing or access hurdles -- like telecom spectrum, or fiber lines for ISPs. Nor are there any compatibility exclusions (proprietary connectors, protocols or walled gardens).
Consumer grade printers are a barren wasteland of planned obsolescence and anti-consumer practices. I recommend everyone that needs a printer in their home spend the extra couple of hundred dollars and buy an office grade printer. The difference between our current HP OfficeJet color laser printer/scanner/copier (cost about $450) and our previous cheapo under $100 consumer grade ink jet printer is unbelievable. Well worth the extra cash and it’s a total workhorse that feels like it’ll last for years.
Anyone working on a free and open 3d printable printer? Let's just download this car already and begin ignoring these vampires.