I hope that Brother doesn't succumb to the same forces that drove HP (and everyone else) to these decisions. In the short term it makes sense for HP because

1. At first the printer works well. This causes reviewers, who only use the printer a few times when it's new, to write a good review.

2. It lets them keep the up-front price of their printers low. Most people only consider up-front cost and not total cost of ownership. It also helps with getting a good review.

3. They get some recurring revenue from customers who don't want to deal non-name-brand ink. They just want their printer to work and they're willing to pay.

Brother, on the other hand, is slightly more expensive but is better built and works with off-brand ink. We have a brother laser printer and it's great. The ink doesn't dry out like an inkjet, we can buy ink from wherever, and it doesn't break down every few months.

I just hope that brother understands that going HP-mode would probably give a short-term bump but hurt their name in the long run.

It's incredible how HP is destroying its brand. At this point I will never buy an HP printer again, not just because of the terrible practices, but (mostly) because of uncertainty: I definitely do not need printer drama in my life.

I once calculated that it is cheaper to buy ten printers each year during Black Friday, and throw them away when the cartridges are empty. New printers often come with free cartridges, and are heavily subsidised as most money is made on the ink

.

I am sure there are some good HP products out there but I refuse to buy any of their products just because of how bad their reputation is nowadays

Buy a thermal printer!

It just burns the paper and is usually good enough for majority of your needs.

Keep a cheap ink based printer handy because the world hasn't moved on yet

I hope this practice is never extended to their more expensive (i.e. a few hundred euros/dollars) laser printers. I would not touch a cheap consumer-grade HP printer if you paid me, but have generally found that their more expensive printers are still a sane choice for someone who needs to do a lot of printing.

Wonder the security level is on these things.

I can't believe it's come to this but are team Xecutor busy?