For years, more ham-fisted printer manufacturers have waged a not-so-subtle war on consumers by blocking the ability to use cheaper, third-party printer cartridges. HP and Canon have both been part…
Rossmann reports on claims about Brother blocking third party cartridges on auto-updating firmware, and not providing older firmware
Brother denies intentionally blocking third party cartridges
There’s still the claim about the older firmware. If it was available, it would be pretty easy for customers to prove that a change in the firmware caused issues w/ third-party cartridges:
cartridge works fine
upgrade
cartridge doesn’t work
downgrade
cartridge works fine
That doesn’t prove it was intentional, it just proves it was the firmware update that caused the problem. If users want to stick w/ an older firmware, they should be allowed to, because Brother shouldn’t be able to decide what firmware they use.
The broader point here is certainly valid though, I’m just unconvinced that it’s applicable. Why should we trust Brother on this when they make the way to prove the issue nigh impossible?
Problem of course, is that 100 people see the lie (most believe the first thing they hear even if false), then 15 see the truth, and 10 believe it.
But is it a lie?
Here’s what I’ve seen so far:
There’s still the claim about the older firmware. If it was available, it would be pretty easy for customers to prove that a change in the firmware caused issues w/ third-party cartridges:
That doesn’t prove it was intentional, it just proves it was the firmware update that caused the problem. If users want to stick w/ an older firmware, they should be allowed to, because Brother shouldn’t be able to decide what firmware they use.
The broader point here is certainly valid though, I’m just unconvinced that it’s applicable. Why should we trust Brother on this when they make the way to prove the issue nigh impossible?
“A lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on.” - C. H. Spurgeon (1859)
And those ten who believe it will be the most virulent and arduous propagators of that lie.