Brother accused of locking down third-party printer ink cartridges via forced firmware updates, removing older firmware versions from support portals
Brother accused of locking down third-party printer ink cartridges via forced firmware updates, removing older firmware versions from support portals
RepairTuber Louis Rossmann taken aback by Brother’s quiet turn to the dark side.
![~~Brother accused of locking down third-party printer ink cartridges via forced firmware updates, removing older firmware versions from support portals~~ [see comments]](https://sopuli.xyz/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net%2FUYyMKvs4i434HgXSxP6QZL-1200-80.jpg&format=webp&thumbnail=196)
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Nooooooo I thought they were the ones NOT doing that. That was kind of their USP for me...
It was only a matter of time, there isn't enough competition in the market to punish such actions.
Hmm. I wonder if the decline of printer use is a factor.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39089971
Consumer printers are a dying market, in case you havent noticed. Sales are trending down roughly 25% over the past decade. HP itself has seen its printer revenue drop from $29B in 2008 to $18B last year. Unit sales have seen a similar decline.
This is what desperation looks like. Nothing they can do will reverse the trend--its bigger than a single company. HP has its numbers to hit.. but are completely powerless to make it grow. So they do things like this, trying to slow the decline for themselves personally... but push more consumers away, accelerating the trend and the decline of their business.
Only $18B, boo Fkn hoo, the line must go up is a cancerous blight..
That number is revenue, we have no idea how much, if any, profit was made.
Always disconnect any IoT devices you buy from the internet. Anything from cameras to switches to TVs to washing machines can and will be downgraded or killed at some point if you allow vendors to push updates without your consent.