License To Print Microsoft Universal Print charging for print jobs SCAM - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2023, 10:06:42 am
content: I came across this article:https://old.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/nl0yaj/anyone_using_microsoft_universal_print_in_azure/QuoteI couldn't believe it at first.https://cloudywithachanceoflicensing.com/2023/04/17/microsoft-365-universal-print-allowance/QuoteI know a garage that sold and repair cars and a bathroom business where they had these really old print servers that had been going for over 20 years where they could print remotely through their VPN and none of this nonsense.Quote*Utter bullshitFor a user, How HARD is it to install a print driver? They go onto the manufacturer's website and download it or were given the installation media in the package or the operating system finds it if it is included.**That's why I'd have the print servers onsite to control the printers inside. Why have the print servers or control outside over a broadband connection when the printers are inside. Unless they mean printers in remote places which can be done in other ways that sounds very stupid to me. It does not remove the need more like begs the need for it.https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/universal-print-or-unlimited-print/ba-p/3788180Quote*Implementing a change by charging for print jobs in exchange to "simplify" it as if people are too stupid to set it up.**So I see it is a proprietary print driver/interface standard set out by Microsoft where the printer manufacturers make firmware to support it but controlled and locked down by Microsoft.Why would anybody want this piece of sh*t to firmware hijack and lock down their printer and charge them to use it?For an outside service I'd expect flat rate not per print.What do you think?

author: sokoloff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2023, 10:20:41 am
content: I think if a business offers something that you aren’t interested in, you shouldn’t buy it. Someone’s interested in this, or Microsoft wouldn’t build it. If you’re not, run your own print servers or buy networked printers.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2023, 11:50:26 am
content: Setting up a printer still is notoriously hard on Windows... So it looks like Microsoft has re-invented PCL5 / Postscript over the network and sells it as a fix for something they broke in the first place. You've got to give them credit for making money from their own mistake. Or people are just stupid enough to buy into it.Setting up a printer on Linux or Macos is super easy. No need to go to the manufacturer's website at all / install a bunch of crappy software.

author: dferyance
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2023, 12:29:39 pm
content: Maybe if you bundle it with mouse as a service and keyboard as a service, you can get a better rate. It sounds like it isn't nothing though. They are running print servers and infrastructure for it. But I get how that feels like nickel and diming things -- which is probably why they are doing it.

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2023, 12:57:08 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on July 06, 2023, 11:50:26 amAll I do is get the basic driver and manually install and that only takes me about 10 - 20 seconds when I got the driver.*Something else that use to get broken:I remember in the past when something got changed, the IP I set in the driver with wds (windows printing port) and I only know about this when someone complains that it is no longer working. I'd find it, set the port back, it would work and about a week after it would do the same thing and I remembered doing something to disable it. I think it might have been a service I turned off.That annoyed me, just like Vista auto doing stuff behind my back, removing the file names and setting the detail view to extra large icons and removing the file names next time I open a folder because it had one picture in there and have to set whole load of things to set it back and it defaults to it again but no option to disable it but that behaviour seems to have stopped in service pack 2.https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/669811-are-printer-ports-automatically-changing-to-wdsQuoteUnless it was installed like that how about they LEAVE IT ALONE and don't interfere/break it... Very stupid!

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2023, 01:28:54 pm
content: Given the IT guy at a friend's workplace managed to break all the networked printers with a Windows update, a service like this could be beneficial.At the end of the day: they are offering a $300 a month service. That is worth a lot to a business if it means the printers are highly reliable (as reliable as printers can be). I'm sure you can do printing yourself without any of this nonsense if you want.

author: Haenk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2023, 01:39:23 pm
content: Quote from: tom66 on July 06, 2023, 01:28:54 pmWe too have that on a regular base - a major Windows update, and printing on one of our printers is likely broken (paper format or whatever).But I certainly would not pay Microsoft for a a basic function they break ever so often.

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2023, 02:17:44 pm
content: Quote from: tom66 on July 06, 2023, 01:28:54 pmThat's why I try to be very careful with the updates. That couldn't be his fault thought could it? if it was out of his control and he didn't know but what if the update also affects what's between the $300 a month service.I remembered once, Nvidia decided to stop supporting a graphics chipset. They released a driver that allowed install. In a bathroom distribution warehouse It got automatically installed and blue screen on 6 computers with that graphics card installed. So installed the previous driver. Deselected them on the optional windows updates, well I thought I did, a couple of days it happens again. So we end up install the updates manually. Not ideal.A windows update that has a caused the printers to stop working or changes or interferes with it should not warrant a $300 month service to correct it.I think what they could do is start renting the printers with the subscriptions which might be worth it on a temporarily basis for mass workforce where it is call preconfigured with their firmware and you just send them back after you are finished with it where they service them for the next lot.

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2023, 03:30:58 pm
content: Now it's clear why Microsoft are breaking printing via Windows updates from time to time. They want to sell a Universal Print subscription.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2023, 10:46:23 pm
content: Quote from: sokoloff on July 06, 2023, 10:20:41 amProblem with stuff like this is that the legacy way will end up being removed or made impossible.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2023, 10:50:10 pm
content: Quote from: madires on July 06, 2023, 03:30:58 pm

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2023, 01:15:42 am
content: QuoteNothing new there.Cant recall the fancy name they gave it,but the claim was to make life easier for the end user,just as long as that end user was using the latest version of windows.