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Adventures in printingI thought I would regale you with a short story about buying my HP printer. I recently decided to upgrade my printer and thought that the HP OfficeJet R40 looked mighty fine. It had a scanner (I needed one, if you've read my earlier story about THAT experience), a copier and, of course, a printer. I didn't need the fax version, since I already have a standalone machine for that. So, in keeping with the methodical approach that I keep harping on, I went about this carefully. I looked at some other multi-functional printers, just to make sure I wasn't missing anything. I have had HP printers for years and have been happy with them. Supplies are widely available and HP has been speedy in fixing hardware problems. After some research, I wasn't able to convince myself that any other printer would beat them, even on price/functionality, so HP remained the nominee. The next step was to have a look at some Internet sites to see what problems people were having. I remember buying a device several years ago, and after struggling with the installation, went out to the support site on CompuServe. There I found LOTS of people complaining about the problem I was having, and not really getting any resolution. If I had known about those problems, I would not have bought the unit. I actually learned my lesson, and this time did my research before I plunked down my presidential portraits for a printer. I couldn't find much until I hit HP's own site. They have a forum in their support section with lots of messages and some answers by a sysop. There I found something to be concerned about. I started seeing questions from people that were having a consistent problem with installation. The process seemed to crash near the end. And it was very common problem. As I was reading the messages in chronological sequence, starting earlier this year, it was interesting to watch the progress of the problem resolution. Initially the sysop (a volunteer) gave marginally useful advice, which was shot down after someone actually tried it. Then, someone else came up with a better solution. And finally the problem was resolved. After reading the messages, it looked like I wouldn't have a problem with my configuration. However, now that I was forearmed with the knowledge of the problem, and its resolution, I felt comfortable proceeding with my purchase. I knew that, while I might buy the printer on Monday afternoon, and attempt to install it on Monday evening, it could very possibly crash. Then I would have to call HP on Tuesday morning, get them to express-ship me a new CD, and finally get it up and running sometime on Wednesday afternoon. I was OK with this. At least I wouldn't be frustrated with everything came to a grinding halt on Monday evening. As I took everything out of the box and plugged stuff in, I was actually whistling a happy song! I inserted the CD, started the install and waited for the bug. It never happened. Fate smiled on me and I was able to print, scan and copy with no problems. So the moral of the story is to expect failure and figure out what you're going to do when it does fail. In this case, I expected there would be problems during installation. I did the research to see what those problems would be and if there was any resolution. Then I proceeded with the install with my mind expecting the problem and being prepared to solve it. In my case, I was pleasantly surprised. I won't be so lucky next time. Karma has a way of evening things out.
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