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Submitted via IRC for chromas
Google is shutting down its cloud printing service
Printing documents over the web using Google Chrome is about to get a bit more complicated for some users as Google has announced that Cloud Print will no longer be supported in 2021.
Cloud Print is a useful service that allows users to print directly from Chrome on desktop and mobile without having to physically connect a printer to their device.
Despite being released in 2010, the service is actually still in beta but now it will never see a full release as Google has published a support document advising Cloud Print users to look for alternative online printing solution before the beginning of next year, which reads:
“Cloud Print, Google’s cloud-based printing solution that has been in beta since 2010, will no longer be supported as of December 31, 2020. Beginning January 1, 2021, devices across all operating systems will no longer be able to print using Google Cloud Print. We recommend that over the next year, you identify an alternative solution and execute a migration strategy.”
(Score: 5, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Saturday November 23 2019, @02:47PM (4 children)
This is something that should not exist. Printing to remote printers was something that was solved back in Windows For Workgroups 3.11.
But it seems the ability to print is something that has gotten more convoluted since then. I've had to handle a lot of snail-mailed in correspondences lately, and I can't even count the number that, for whatever bizarre reason, have been photographed from a computer screen or another printed document using a cell phone, transfered elsewhere, and then printed. It also seems like hand writing has made a comeback as a result.
Every time I try to print something from any "modern" web page, I just get unreadable unformatted crap. Because, you know, it's not a "page" any more, its a fucking retarded "app" with ever changing dynamic content that can't be captured for printing unless I capture the screen and print that (usually adjusting the contrast first to compensate for "modern" washed out color schemes like on Google Maps).
If only people would just try to fix the actual problems rather than using some lame workaround that only exists to mine user data.
(Score: 5, Funny) by darkfeline on Saturday November 23 2019, @10:45PM
> This is something that should not exist.
Well, yes. Google is fixing that.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 24 2019, @01:32AM
Try sharing a printer with Windows 10 on a LAN. It's fucking ridiculous.
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Sunday November 24 2019, @10:31AM (1 child)
So, I'm not the only one who noticed that? Want to get really pissed off?
Go to a content distribution system, say, like Reddit. Trying "saving an html" page, then opening up that file? Did that work? Yes? Disconnect from your network, clear your browser cache, and open up that html page again. You're lucky if you can view anything.
Wow! I just tried it. It actually displayed the information I asked it in Reddit. (It wouldn't display icons, of course, because, um... so what is that html folder for again?) For many months after Reddit updated their servers, everything was unreadable when I saved it. I had to pull up the info on their old servers if I wanted to save something.
Well try it on random websites that just host simple content. You'll find a lot of them don't save the info properly. Be sure to empty your browser cache and disconnect from the network when you do it, though.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 24 2019, @02:23PM
This is why I copy-paste useful stuff into a openoffice document or similar, and never use the web browser's save page features. Shouldn't be necessary, but hey. For the really obnoxious sites which block right-click, copy-paste, or whatever other fancy protection mechanisms they can come up with, you can get to the content through the browser's developer tools. Bit more effort if I want to include pictures, but then I can pick and choose the important stuff, and ignore fluff like icons and user avatars and such.
The plus side is then I get to choose the formatting, colours etc. and make tweaks and corrections and stuff, and what I've explicitly saved is available should I ever want to print it. Though usually a digital offline copy is good enough for me.