Officejet 8500 won't print Black ink only if other colors are out

I confirmed with HP's customer support that there is no way to print black
ink only with this printer if other colors are out.  Does anyone else feel
that this is absolutely rediculous?  If I have an urgent printing need and
I'm out of color, it seems that the printer should allow me to print in
black only.  This seems to be a way for HP to sell more color ink.  ARGH!

HP and Corporate Plunder

Now I'm sitting here the day before Xmas, needing to print a black document,
and the printer won't print because the color cartridge (which is FULL of
ink) is expired.

You money-grubbing S.O.B.s aren't going to get any more of my $ than I can
possibly avoid, ever again--
--
Unless you wake up and stop trying to squeeze every last cent out of your
customers. Assume that most people won't refill, but accommodate those who
will. It won't kill you.

You made a good move when you released your drivers for open source
development (I'm a Linux user). But you're beginning to make dumb moves.

Another example is an HP Pavillion computer my in-laws bought last year.
Decided they wanted Linux, which turned out to be impossible to install on
your cheaply made hardware. I've steered at least 30 small companies away
from HP computers since that experience.

 They're putting smart chips in their cartridges. This makes it harder for
users to refill the cartridges. It also assures that even refilled
cartridges will have to be replaced much sooner than they actually wear out.

The bottom line is something which has been known in the past as planned
obsolescence, but is much more "in your face"
than anything I've ever seen in the past. This isn't just an example of
making something poorly, so it wears out
quicker. These people are telling their products exactly when to stop
working, for no other reason than that they want
to sell another one.


Merry Christmas.

Paul Lamar and others


Paul and all,

I totally concur.  My wife and I have had the exact same experience with our
HP 7360 printer and we have decided to never again purchase ANY HP product
because of this very reason.  If they can't hack it without exploiting the
very customers they so desperately need to survive, then they need to expire
like their overpriced cartridges.  My Brother TN-330 Laser monochrome works
very well and only cost $100 over a year ago. Still on the original
cartridge, and I print quite a bit sometimes...The perfectly useable HP
printer is now sitting on a shelf at the local Goodwill store with expired
cartridges...

Merry Christmas to you and yours,

Norm