“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.
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.
What does “Print Support App” mean? Please don’t tell me it’s like that garbage HP Smart stuff.
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.
Yeah and there was a whole privilege escalation exploit because of that, get system level access whenever you plug in a Razer peripheral because you could open a powershell window from the “Choose where to install” prompt.
I’m honestly surprised that made it past as many layers of checks as it did.
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?
“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).
So you want Epson to provide you with a separately application which runs in the background to tell you when to update? Why split the responsibility?
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
Well, you could think of Microsoft as your distro. Generally, if they’re telling you to upgrade a driver, you should do it. At a minimum, everyone should be automatically installing security updates. This is one of the most important services an operating system vendor provides.
If you don’t trust them to do that or you don’t like their update frequency, maybe consider a different operating system. In the Linux world, we have some choices as far as release cadence and update policy. You can do rolling, 6 month, 2 year LTS, etc. Some are bleeding edge and others use “proven” software and remain very stable until the next major release.
If done right, it could be a positive curator. Rules like “any drivers you get off of Windows update met certain tests, are not padded with unrelated crapware, etc.”
But I suspect that won’t fly. My main experience with WU drivers is a tendency to replace new drivers with old, broken ones. And I doubt printer makers-- the guys who made a 600MB driver to do the same tasks that a LaserJet 4 did with a 30k driver 30 years ago-- would play ball.
Well, the “distributed and automatically installed” part seems more like Windows users will automatically get that bloatware installed; no way to get a minimal driver without bullshit utilities anymore, right? I assume that utility will be written by the device manufacturer…
