OT: Printing costs, and a surprising find

[Richard Kreiss]

> > I thought it was interesting.  There are people around here who go
> > through a bunch of paper and ink, so I thought I'd share.
> 
> Interesting article.  I wonder how the printer industry will respond to this.
> Perhaps change their drivers to convert Garamond into some similar-but-
> more-ink-intensive font?  After all, in today's "lose money on the printer and
> make it up in ink profits" business model, we can't let the consumers save on
> ink.  (It was bad enough that the courts ruled that using third-party ink can't
> void the warranty.)
> 
> Speaking of which, have you heard about Keurig's plan to have their next
> generation coffee makers not work with "unlicensed" pods?
> 
> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140227/06521826371/keurig-will-use-
> drm-new-coffee-maker-to-lock-out-refill-market.shtml
> 
> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/03/how-do-you-drm-a-thing-like-a-
> coffee-pod/
> 
> --
> Kenneth Brody

Ken,

I don't think the inkjet printer manufacturers really have a problem, people will use the font which is most appealing to them for the purpose the document is being prepared for.

As for Keurig, one of the major players not paying any royalty is  Pete's Coffee.  They already have the "VUE" which takes a different format "cup" and doesn't accept the K-Cup.  Personally I think they have a problem as there are a lot of people with the current machines who aren't about to purchase a new machine unless Keurig make it financially worthwhile to trade in the old machine.  Besides, when the new model comes out, retailers will put the old machines on sales at fairly deep discounts.   The other question that needs to be answered is will the other coffee maker manufacturers go along with the change.

I just realized that, depending on their licensing agreement with the coffee suppliers, they could discontinue the older K-Cups thereby making the current machines useless.  This might annoy enough of the public to make them go to a competing product.  We'll have to wait and see what actually transpires.  

One other thing, I wonder how long there current patent has left before it expires and then can be used royalty free.


Richard Kreiss
GCC Consulting