[fallat]

I have to ask: did you truly print some beautiful typeset piece?

I don't get what you mean: most people I know, when they print something, expect it to be of some quality. Sure maybe the typesetting isn't great, but the actual ppi (I think that's the term), they definitely care for.

I would say you did witness a revolution! But let's remember what came before it, and for most consumers, even the earliest technologies "did the job". Anything beyond "does the job" is gravy, and will likely not be recognized unless you begin to commercialize your work, where people expect beyond "did the job".

[klodolph]

I'd have to disagree with "anything beyond 'does the job' is gravy", because people use these printers for different jobs and some people definitely do care about the quality. Good quality printing is easier to read; the images and diagrams are clearer and easier to understand; etc.

I remember using dot matrix printers. The ink looks faded and uneven, there are often patches of missing ink. Consumer dot matrix printers from the 1980s and 1990s mostly just plain suck, and we knew it.

Laser printers really were a big part of the desktop publishing revolution. We take it for granted today, but that's because the revolution is over, desktop publishing won, and manual typesetting / layout is now extremely niche.