OS agnostic printing
After being responsible for buying printers for over ten years, printer drivers, running costs and a good standard of printing have become key purchasing decisions (network and duplex support being mandatory requirements). Being able to print from a diverse set of computers and operating systems reduces support calls and complaints from management. Low running costs keep Accounts from making complaints about the consumables budget, while a good standard of printing (improved printing speed and quality compared to previous printer) and everyone is happy.
I have found that buying a printer which is capable of printing PCL5, PCL6 or Postscript (or a clone) minimised printing issues at is it possible to get a driver for any OS which supports these no matter what their age. Printers that use Host based printing are to be avoided at all costs, and are best left for the home user to waste the time and money on.
Having recently purchased an All in Printer for personal use, it is a mistake I will not making again. The driver software is bloated, too complicated, causes the printer to disappear every month requiring a complete re-install. Why can All in One Printer manufacturers provide a consistant standard interface for all printers to access Scanning and Faxing functions. How difficult would it be to install a standard web server which listens on one port for Scanning control and another for Fax control. They all have to have their "proprietary interface" which changes with every printer model, so they have to keep on developing buggy drivers. Its would be nice if European Commission investigated the printer manufacturers for collusion in failing not to come up with a open and free standard method of accessing these functions; there is no reason to have a continuously changing "proprietary standard" unless it is to exclude the competition..