[rmetzler]

I think it doesn’t work like you said. The GP has a printer, but one where he doesn’t need much maintenance. It just works. No need to have a 4 color printer that doesn’t print black and white when yellow is run out. No need to buy a new cardridge when the one you bought together with the last one is dried out. No need to buy original manufacturer cartridges because of some kind of DRM.

And frankly I do the same as the GP. I have a b/w Brother network laser printer and all computers in my home print to this. When we need to print photos once or twice a year we go to a shop and get 100 different photos at once.

If you want to compare this to cars I think it’s more of a “buy a good car that is reliable and works most of the time and rent a bus or get an uber for a special case”. Like these VW Bullis I hear about. They are great when they work but you don’t want to own one.

[james_s_tayler]

We do the exact same. Hands down it's the best solution.