HP Teaches Driver Education

At what point does a manufacturer's responsibility for updating its device drivers end? While that's not a question we can have any hope of answering definitively, a recent gripe from a reader about Vista driver support for his HP scanner might provide a good test case to ponder.

"This is about my HP Scanjet 6300C, which I purchased in December 2001 for $613.06 Canadian, taxes included," the reader wr

At what point does a manufacturer's responsibility for updating its device drivers end? While that's not a question we can have any hope of answering definitively, a recent gripe from a reader about Vista driver support for his HP scanner might provide a good test case to ponder.

"This is about my HP Scanjet 6300C, which I purchased in December 2001 for $613.06 Canadian, taxes included," the reader wrote. "I consider this piece of gear a significantly expensive item, and would very much like to continue using it. The crux of the problem is that HP has chosen not to provide Windows Vista drivers for this product."

When the reader went looking for a driver on HP's website, he found this page instead:

"We are sorry to inform you that there will be no Windows Vista support available for your HP product. Therefore your product will not work with Windows Vista. The majority of HP products not supported in Windows Vista are beyond seven years old. If you are using the Windows Vista operating system on your computer, please consider upgrading to a newer HP product that is supported on Windows Vista."

Sure, the reader understands that manufacturers can't support older models of their equipment forever, but he does wonder why his particular device wound up on the wrong side of the line. "Much seven-year-old hardware is old enough to retire," he says. "Newer gear is easier to support, and probably works better to boot. The problem is, my Scanjet 6300C is considerably less than six years old, and yet HP is expecting me to buy a new HP product to replace it. I can tell you for certain, that will not happen as long as other companies make scanners."

Just browsing through HP's Scanjet drivers myself, it's hard to tell just what criteria HP may have employed in deciding which devices get Vista support and which don't. Some scanners of a similar vintage or even older than the 6300 have a "minimum driver" for Vista functionality available from HP. At the same time, some other models that are even newer than 6300 have no Vista support.

There's another reason why the reader is riled up about this. "I also own an even older HP inkjet printer, a Deskjet 710C," the reader wrote. "This device, which I bought on 08/01/1999, for far less than I paid for the scanner, has FULL Vista support. The driver that's included with Vista even has the utility -- which disappeared in the Windows 2000 driver -- that you need to re-align the print heads after changing ink cartridges. So somebody is paying attention to that device, even though it's more than seven years old."