HP takes bloatware to a whole new level

The BBQ Pit
#1

Yesterday I had to install an HP Officejet printer/fax/scanner for a client. After popping in the CD, I’m faced with the following prompt:
Recommended installation: 1000MB
Printer driver only: 100MB

…A GIG!!! Are you fucking with me?!? What in the name of all that’s holy does this printer do that requires a gb of disk space? You could fit an entire operating system in that space and still have breathing room left over!

The fact that disk space is cheaper than dirt doesn’t excuse PPP (piss-poor programming). I don’t care how you slice it, a basic imaging application (the only difference between the typical and basic install) should not eat 900MB. The driver size alone is appalling - I’ve seen full-featured driver/TWAIN scanning app/fax suites that weight in at under 6 megs!

What’s really appalling is the fact that there’s almost no difference between this printer and the comparable model from 5 years ago. Higher quality prints, maybe, but what in fuck-all does that have to do with driver size? What’s next? Will my next car require 10x the garage space?

fuckity.

#2

Yes, HP sucks big time.
And their cheapo printers suck too. I addded an HP cheapo printer to one of the computers on my network and then tried to set up the other printers to be able to access it. Since we turn off computers when not in use around here the HP cheapo is usually not available.

Well, the drivers and other misc crap that loaded on each of the computers acts like a nasty malware program. The software bitches and moans at boot up when it can’t find the HP printer and it continually resets each computer’s preverences to make the HP printer the primary printer. On top of that it causes the laptop to hang up when powering down.

I finally removed the printer software and drivers from all of the coputers except the one it was connected to. I had to use a task management program to eradicate it as the uninstall program left most of the resident executables in the boot up process. I’ve removed viruses easier than removing HP software. Never again will I buy an HP printer.

#3

I like HP, but I don’t use anybody’s print/FAX/scan/Julienne fries maker.
You might do better downloading a business driver from HP or using HP Jetdirect.
What models were you dealing with?

#4

Don’t XP & OS X plug & play without HP’s ridiculous drivers & shitty software?

#5

Do you even need the driver? I thoguht the beauty of XP allwos one to almsot never need a driver again, especially not on something liek a printer. I would just have plugged in the printer, wait for the found new hardware, and use whatever driver it recomends. Only if it didn’t print correctly would I then go to their drivers. And then, go to the website and see if I can get just the most basic drivers for download.

#6

Are your only options to install just the printer driver or install everything? Most of the time they give you a custom option that allows you to decide what it installs and what it doesn’t. I’d be interested to see what’s on that list.

#7

XP doesn’t have drivers for newer printers. I imagine it doesn’t have the apps the FAX/Scanner/Printer/Juicers.

I’d think that if you were just sharing the printer, the clients would get the driver from the server.

#8

For certain printers with special features like the Epson R200, without the drivers the extra features are useless.

#9

Cool.

#10

This was an either-or situation. Basically: “Welcome to HP Printer setup! Would you rather be screwed with a baseball bat or a cactus?”

What really boggles the mind is the superiority their large business-class printers. It’s as if they outsource their home product software development to brain-challenged monkeys by comparison. None of their business-class drivers I’ve come across are more than 5MB, whereas their home drivers are never under 30MB. WTF?

#11

My HP printer/scanner/copier bloatware added this photocopy program that somehow messed up my ability to install microsofts c++ compilier. The c++ install would chug along for a minute then the photocopy program would come up and when I closed it the inistall program exited. It was totally bizzare. I removed the photocopy program and c++ installed fine.

#12

It wasn’t long ago that my boss told me, “If you can’t fit the entire code into a 4K EPROM, the program’s not worth writing.”

Guess we’ll have to boost that limit just a tad.

#13

It seems to be something about printer manufacturers, that they want to rewrite the GUI rulebook…but I’ve found HP utterly outclassed by Epson. At work, we’ve got an Epson scanner, the software for which produces a “scan in progress” window, containing a status bar. Fair enough. Except you can’t minimize it, it has no title bar, and is set permanently to “always on top”. If you’re scanning an A3 document at 2400dpi, you’ve got this little fucker stuck on top of every active window for a good 5-10 minutes.

#14

Ah yes, the good ol’ attention whore scanner progress dialog - I had the same problem on a Mustek scanner. Stupid stupid stupid.

#15

I think it’s another way for the manufacturers to say “And while you’re using our product, why would you ever want to do anything except marvel at its wondrous function?”

Epson status monitor dialogs piss me off too- they pop up in front of other applications, but only switch off the always on top mode if you click on them, then click away.

#16

Hell, never mind the recommended 1 Gig. I want to know why the driver only takes up 100 MB!

I mean, a driver’s primary purpose is to the hardware. How much can it possibly have to say, already?

#17

I hate hate hate my hp psc1210 for all the reasons mentioned, plus the constant paper jams.

#18

argggh! “talk to”

A driver’s primary purpose is to talk to the hardware.

::: grumbles about f***ing up a perfectly good quip… :::

#19

This was like ATI a couple of years back. Their drivers used to be the anchor that dragged their non-All in Wonder graphics adapters to the borrom of the sea. After a couple of bad experiences with their adapters an drivers, I switched to nVidia. Then someone must had the bright idea to base their newest drivers on their All-in-Wonder series, because all of a sudden, ATI started racking up performance ratings that NVidia is still having a hard time catching up.

God, midget, what kind of printer/scanner/nosewiper/massager/backscratcher you are loading up that requires 1G of HD space? You didn’t say what version, because I just installed one for my friend. I might help.

#20

I think it was the Officejet 4215. I pity anyone that forgets the disk, as the software download is ~350MB. RIP dial-up…