“With the release of Windows 10 21H2, Windows offers inbox support for Mopria compliant printer devices over network and USB interfaces via the Microsoft IPP Class Driver. This removes the need for print device manufacturers to provide their own installers, drivers, utilities, and so on. Device experience customization is now available via the Print Support Apps that are distributed and automatically installed via the Windows Store,” the company wrote.
“via Windows Update” - key piece of info missing from the headline “for some reason”.
Yeah, I don’t see a need for Windows update to do any 3rd party stuff.
Why not? We essentially have this in the Linux world and it’s great. You have a package manager that pulls from your distro’s repositories and it’s filled with all kinds of software, although most drivers come packaged with the kernel. Most stuff is completely plug and play. You end up with one click (or command) software installations for just about everything so you’re not hunting around the internet and downloading installers. Everything you need, including dependencies, gets pulled in and it stays up to date without every app bundling it’s own updater. It’s super convenient.
Because Microsoft manages Windows update, it’s not like a package manager in Linux.
I don’t want Microsoft telling me when I should update an Epson printer driver.
Because Microsoft manages Windows update, it’s not like a package manager in Linux.
Windows update is a package manager. It’s hot garbage (obviously) but its job is indeed to manage packages and their updates.
Drivers and other HW-related tools have been distributed via Windows Update for years now and it’s generally a good thing. Before M$ did this you had to plug in driver DVDs or scour the internet for drivers (ugh).
Out of all the things to hate Microsoft for, removing the need to manage your own print drivers seems like a weird hill to die on
If they were just drivers, I’d agree with you. I was looking into the Lexmark and HP continuous ink services recently, and one of them, Lexmark I think, wanted the ability to update the firmware in your printer to stop you from being able to use third party inks or toners.
Along with that, I’ve had issues in the past where a faulty driver crashed the Windows Update service. Trying to update the driver through Windows would take me to Windows Update to install the missing update before it would let me update the driver. If I couldn’t get the driver from the manufacturer’s website, I would have been stuck.
One hopes that this will address the security issues of print drivers in the long run. I seem to remember that there are just a lot of security issues with the whole print driver infrastructure. Interesting they didn’t say anything about that as a driving factor.
TIL there’s an organization called Mopria that develops universal printing standards. As a computer geek who works in the tech industry, I’m surprised I’ve never heard of this before.
I use an Asus Gladius 2 wireless mouse. On Windows upon plugging it in for the first time WU installed most of Armory Crate and called it a “driver” and of course it immediately wanted to connect to the Internet… So yes, I’m skeptical.
Jeez, my Razer mouse only launches the installer for their crap, it doesn’t automatically do the installation.
So did my Asus motherboard. It didn’t install armoury crate, but it pop up as a suggestion. Maybe op just clicked through absent-mindedly?
No such thing, did not click anything. I only noticed because of the firewall popup & then I started to investigate what is going on really. Luckily on Linux there is no crap like this…
What does “Print Support App” mean? Please don’t tell me it’s like that garbage HP Smart stuff.
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sandboxes UWP app
UWP isn’t sandboxing law, it’s Microsoft business policy, the sands will shift at a later date.
