From: Fred Maxwell <rockbox_at_anti-spam.org>
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 13:29:39 -0500

Jimmy Moore wrote:

> If I buy a mouse, Do I then have to pay to download the
> driver for it from their website?
>
> If I buy a computer, do I have to pay extra to use the cd-rom drive???
>
> I will never, ever pay for hardware drivers. That's just
> ridiculous.

Yes, sir, I agree with you. Which is why I will not be buying products from
Umax or HP. Both firms have charged money for drivers for their scanners --
and maybe for other products as well. NEC sold 600DPI printers which could
only work in 300DPI HP emulation mode under Windows 2000 and XP because NEC
didn't even make new PrintGear drivers available -- at all, even for a fee
(and we're talking about recent-vintage laser printers here, not something
from the early 1990's).

Peripheral manufacturers should be required by law to supply drivers at no
charge for a period of seven years -- much like what we do to car
manufacturers in the U.S. with regards to car parts. The drivers should
provide the same, or better, functionality and should be made available for
each new version of the target OS. In other words, if you bought a
peripheral that worked with Windows 2000, then the drivers should have been
updated at no additional charge to you so that it would work with Windows
XP.

Regards,
  Fred Maxwell
Received on 2003-12-15