@ifixcoinops I previously tooted about the trials and tribulations of trying to help my octogenarian parents with their newly acquired HP printer/scanner. It was...wow.

HP are the flipside to Brother...the pioneers of #enshittification. This product, marketed to non-technical SOHO users, had a USB with a sticker covering it saying DO NOT USE. The instructions made it clear that you were to INSTALL AN APP ON YOUR PHONE and REGISTER with their craptacular Cloud Service...and credit card info was MANDATORY even if you didn't buy anything.

If you didn't do this, and if the internet connection was down when the printer was powered on, IT WOULD REFUSE TO PRINT until it detected an internet connection!

My parents live on a farm with spotty wireless broadband so on my advice they took it back to the store and exchanged it for the equivalent Brother.

The Brother had no (cr)app. It *came with a driver CD*! It came with the USB cable!! It was ACTUAL PLUG AND PLAY!!!

Like 2003 again but in the best way!