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A comment on Google Kills Cloud Print. Parent comment

Re:Google Kills Cloud Print by taborj on Friday November 22, 2019 @11:04AM (#21606791)
Driverless printing has been "the future" for over a decade now (I remember hearing much about it back in 2006 or so), and a concept for two decades. Microsoft first filed the patent back in 1999 [0]. The only thing that's changed is the patent is now expired (as near as I can tell), thus opening the door a bit wider for adoption.

But, as with many things, "I'll believe it when I see it."

[0] https://patents.google.com/patent/US6952831B1/en

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Re:Google Kills Cloud Print by dTal on Friday November 22, 2019 @11:13AM (#21606887)
Ridiculous that a patent for such a thing should ever have been granted.

"Driver" is merely the word we use for "protocol", when the protocol is ad-hoc, non-standard, or badly documented.

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Re:Google Kills Cloud Print by kube-system on Friday November 22, 2019 @03:04PM (#21609486)
On what grounds should that patent not have been granted?

Seems like a pretty normal patent to me. Technology doesn't have to be likable, a good design, or even functional to be patented.

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Re:Google Kills Cloud Print by pawelmurias on Friday November 22, 2019 @04:16PM (#21610164)
On the grounds that laws allowing such patents shouldn't exist.
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Re:Google Kills Cloud Print by mrighele on Friday November 22, 2019 @12:34PM (#21607806)
Isn't "driverless printing" essentially a standard printing protocol + a way to describe the printers capabilities ? If so I would say that driverless printing has been a thing since Postscript was invented (early 80s, if I am not mistaken)?
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Re:Google Kills Cloud Print by pixl97 on Friday November 22, 2019 @11:12AM (#21606875)
Otherwise known as "why dont my pdf's print right, and why cant I select tray 3?"
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Re:Google Kills Cloud Print by wlesieutre on Friday November 22, 2019 @11:14AM (#21606895)
AirPrint on iOS and macOS does this, no?

Not sure if anyone has cloned that in a Windows utility, but a lot of printers support it.

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Re:Google Kills Cloud Print by amluto on Friday November 22, 2019 @12:19PM (#21607641)
Chrome OS supports “native” printing. I think it’s more or less interoperable with AirPrint.

The problem would be mostly solved if Windows added native support and added a giant warning when anyone tries to install a printer driver saying that it’s a terrible idea.

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Re:Google Kills Cloud Print by criddell on Friday November 22, 2019 @12:08PM (#21607516)
Is that driverless or a universal driver? Maybe the distinction doesn't matter...
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