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Wednesday, August 30, 2006

No, I won't live and breathe your product!

Why do software makers think you want to live and breathe their product? More and more applications seem to think they are the only reason you bought your computer. Even drivers are getting this way. I have recently installed HP printer drivers that are more than 50 megabytes. They add photoviewing, image management, file transfer, camera interfacing stuff that I don't want. They take over file associations. I bought the printer to print. Period. Am I the only person who just wants an HP printer to print? Or have I missed some liefstyle trend where printers are all about how I see the world and relate to it, digitally speaking?

Apaprently I am not the only person who has gotten ticked off...check out Simon Wilson's rant about the 170 megabyte HP driver. That was a while ago...it would be interesting to know if HP as reacted. It would sure be nice to have the option to go "basic driver only" during the install.