GearBits

HP Printer Software Takes a Step Backward

I recently decided to try updating the software on my HP G85 multi-function (printer/scanner/copier/fax) machine I have at my office. It turns out that was a really stupid thing to do.

The thing I use my G85 for the most is scanning multi-page documents into Adobe Acrobat PDFs so I can distribute the articles and documents to my students without making hardcopies (hardcopies are evil). The version of the software that came with the G85 made this task relatively easy: I start the scan manager, select Adobe Acrobat as the destination for the output, and start scanning (I can crop, straighten, and stuff as I go to each page if I choose).

Well, the newest version of HP's software has completely eliminated this option. Now, using the scan manager, I can only scan into either the HP Photo Editor (if I'm scanning a "photo") or into a word-processing program like Microsoft Word (if I'm scanning a "document"). Scanning directly into Acrobat is impossible from the scan manager -- how ridiculous is that?!

Well, it turns out that I can scan directly into Acrobat, but only if I use the hardware buttons on the G85's front panel. I select "Scan To" and then choose the destination program of my choice (in this case, Acrobat). However, this front-panel scanning eliminates any chance of straightening, cropping or making other image adjustments during the scanning process.

This is yet another example of a company totally screwing up a perfectly good piece of software by trying to make it simpler and easy to use. In this quest for "ease of use," HP has completely overlooked the other primary driver of technology adoption, which is "usefulness" (per Davis' Technology Acceptance Model).

While I can eventually get all this stuff into Adobe Acrobat, the process takes about 4X as long (from ~30 seconds per page to ~2 minutes per page). The funny thing was that I was getting ready to buy a new multifunction for home and I was all set to buy another HP. Unless HP's latest devices have a better interface, I think I might start looking at alternatives. Too bad, too...I've always liked HP printers. It's ironic that bad software might end up screwing up an otherwise great physical product.