I recently made several postings regarding the removal of printer and
other drivers from the HP website, in which I referred to HP's actions
in some strongly worded negative terms based upon my misguided belief
that this decision was of their own doing.
Further, in the same threads I indicated that Microsoft had no
responsibility in this matter, and should not be held in any manner
responsible.
At the time I wrote those postings, I thought the information I wrote
was an accurate portrayal of events.
I recently received some "clarity" on this matter. I place the word
clarity in quotes, because things are less than clear, and less than
black and white, but I still need to retract my earlier statements on
both sides, and apologize for targeting and maligning HP unfairly.
Apparently, there is a strong Microsoft connection in this matter. As I
understand what was explained to me, now that Microsoft has withdrawn
all support for Windows 98 and ME, any code that they own which was
incorporated into 3rd party product is also without support. Part of
the agreement MS has with 3rd party vendors is that once a MS product is
no longer supported their code can no longer be distributed.
Microsoft's reasoning is apparently that if their code continues to be
distributed, there is an implication that they will stand behind it, and
take responsibility to correct and update it should issues develop.
There may also be legal liability issues involved.
Now, here's where it gets more complicated. There are apparently
several methods of creating printer and other drivers, and each company
can choose to use the method they prefer. One method is to have the
drivers call to different sub-programs already provided in the operating
system. By doing so, the driver remains a "pure" product of the 3rd
party vendor. Another method is to include certain parts of the OS code
within the driver. I am not technically knowledgeable enough to weight
in on the advantages and disadvantages of each method.
At this point, I must speculate, because of yet I have not received an
answer, but it is likely HP used the later method with their printer
drivers, that being, they included some Microsoft driver components
within their drivers. Again, I must speculate, because I have been
unable to get a exact answer to date, but it is likely that HP's
agreement/license with Microsoft on the use of this code doesn't allow
them to continue to distribute it once it is no longer supported by
Microsoft.
So, to try to clarify, no one is required to use MS code directly in a
driver. Instead, the driver can call to the internal code within the
operating system, and some companies will have written their drivers in
this fashion. Others, who did incorporate the MS code within their
driver may not be allowed under license to continue to distribute their
drivers as they stand, due to MS not allowing distribution of
non-supported components from their OSs.
WHAT ARE THE MECHANISMS BEHIND THIS:
There are a LOT of issues here, and it is not easy to determine who can
or should take responsibility in this matter.
We do not yet know if HP did use the MS code in their drivers, but it is
likely they have under the current circumstances. If they did, one
question is if they were aware or could they have predicted that using
the code within their drivers would eventually lead to this problem.
Other questions are: Is HP correctly interpreting their agreement and
licensing with MS, and do they have to remove the drivers from
distribution as they stand as a result?
Could or would HP consider recoding their drivers to remove those
offending parts?
If HP pulled the drivers because of the MS redistribution agreement,
could MS change their policy and wording in the agreement/license to
allow the code to be used with a clear understanding that the code
stands without any MS support. After all, these are legacy products
which should have been bug-fixed some time ago, and new problems would
likely be a result of introduction of other products' updates, which
neither MS or HP should be held responsible for.
Is it legal for another website to hold and distribute these drivers?
(I imagine, strictly speaking, that it would violate several copyrights).
It seems to me that this is a matter that needs to be resolved so that
millions of pieces of equipment that are otherwise usable could continue
to be used, sold, or redistributed in such a manner that drivers would
be accessible when needed. At a time when we are continually being
reminded of global climate change and resource limitations, people
should be encouraged to use older equipment as long as possible, and
this goes against that ethic.
CALL TO ACTION:
If people care about this matter, and people should, because this is the
thin edge of the wedge, because there are new OSs coming down the road
and others will become unsupported over time, if this matter is ignored
now, it will become an established precedence and could even be
manipulated to design more obsolecense in an industry which already has
a poor record in this area.
Both HP and MS need to be told this is not acceptable. HP needs to make
sure they are writing drivers that they have full ownership of, so they
can be responsible for their distribution without secondary licensing.
We, as purchasers, should have the right to know if such drivers contain
code that is not within the vendors ownership and control. HP is not
totally without responsibility in this matter and as such, they should
be told so by owners of their products. They are a major partner with
MS, and they can also exert pressure to make changes in the agreement.
We need to let MS know that this is not acceptable. It is
understandable that at a certain point they may no longer support an OS,
and it is bad enough that new OSs break drivers and manufacturers often
do not issue new drivers to allow for upgrade, but now we are losing
access to the old drivers being used on older OSs, as well. Win (*
particularly, and to a lesser extent Win ME, and certainly Win 2000 are
still heavily in use throughout the world. MS needs to rewrite the
redistribution agreement to allow for their code that is integrated into
drivers to continue to be used for redistribution in an non-warranted
and without liability fashion.
I will do some research over the next several days to find the proper
contacts for directing comments and concerns within HP and MS about
these matters. If people become aware of other peripherals of other
brands which are suffering the same fate, please email me me privately
about them.
I can be reached at:
e-printerhelp(at)mvps(dot)org
(at) = @
(dot) = .
Thanks.
Art
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