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Blame tablet culture. Everything is now optimally desgined for user friendliness. Kids can just download an app from the appstore and point at what they want it to do. People don't even know anymore how the filesystem on their computer works. If the dow load pup-up in chrome disappears, they think the download has dissapeared and they need to download it again.

Richard Stallman literally started the Free Software Foundation over his frustrations with a printer

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/rms-nyu-2001-transcript.txt

Xerox gave the Artificial Intelligence Lab, where I worked, a laser printer, and this was a really handsome gift, because it was the first time anybody outside Xerox had a laser printer. And, you know, copiers jam, but there's somebody there to fix them.

Well, we had an idea for how to deal with this problem. Change it so that whenever the printer gets a jam, the machine that runs the printer can [...] tell the users who are waiting for printouts go fix the printer.

But at that point, we were completely stymied, because the software that ran that printer was not free software. It had come with the printer, and it was just a binary.

And then I heard that somebody at Carnegie Mellon University had a copy of that software. So I was visiting there later, so I went to his office and I said, "Hi, I'm from MIT. Could I have a copy of the printer source code?" And he said "No, I promised not to give you a copy." He had signed a non-disclosure agreement.

Now, this was my first, direct encounter with a non-disclosure agreement, and it taught me an important lesson -- [..] non-disclosure agreements have victims. They're not innocent. [...]

(he goes on for a bit, but ultimately describes never accepting any software that requires signing an NDA ever, and then goes on to write his own unix)

Just think, once we all die off, no more printers.

Literally helped my parents with this last night.

Also, fuck windows for defaulting a setting I’d never seen before: “let windows manage my default printer”

That’s why it wasn’t printing. What a fucking stupid idea.

I'm lucky that the people in my life do try some basics before asking me and tell me what they tried. Sometimes things just seem to start working when I arrive, so I just play along with it and say the printer was intimidated into working by my mere presence.

PC LOAD LETTER.

Tbf printers are the most unnecessarily complicated pieces of shit ever

To be fair I can make a 3D printer work more easily and for longer without any maintenance than a regular ass printer. I get that inkjets are actually super complex but bro there are now cases where it is literally easier to make a thing than to print out a picture of that thing.

We are complaining about printers now? Outstanding! I can help! I never miss the opportunity to say double-fuck Hewlett Packard/Compaq and anything they’ve ever thought about producing with the heat of a thousand suns. Two shitty orgs that geometrically devolved into quintessential, archetypal enshittification enshrined, the unequalled horrors that are HP printers and drivers.

Here’s my obligatory Fuck You to ink jet printers and cartridges.

A few months ago I finally got a Brother b/w multi function laser printer and not having to refill Magenta or Black regularly is no longer, and my mind is at peace.

When I was around 8, we had a printer that never seemed to work. One day, I somehow cast a spell that allowed it to print out a couple of colouring book sheets, but I had no idea how.

I couldn't get it to work again, but my one-time success led my mum to believe that I understood the magicks that power printers, and she became frustrated at me for this. Fun fun fun

• Have to help your cousin who is the same age as you but somehow never learnt how to use a printer

I haven’t had a printer in years. Best decision I’ve made. When you don’t have one, your need for printing things seems to decrease. We just order prints at the library the 2 times a year we need to print something for like 25 cents a page

I’ve used computers recreationally for 35 years, professionally for 30.

I’ve never owned a printer.

I refuse to support equipment I don’t use.

Oh, a Boomer needs tech support, of any kind, family, friend, otherwise?

$100/h.

Stop subsidizing their utter incompetence, time for 'tough love'.

A kid?

Like an actual kid?

Free.

How would they know any better?

But, let em know the first fix is free, on the house, next one will be $5, then $10... or, they can spend no money if they want to spend an hour getting tutored on the basics maybe once a week.

Generate fishermen, not fish.

Show them that they are capable, can learn, can solve problems... if they're patient and humble enough to try and learn.

The kids aren't alright.

Seriously.

Had to teach our seniors to use alt+tab, Had to teach our interns to use alt+tab

I don't have any kids. I'm free!!