from the oh-how-the-mighty-have-fallen dept.
The once mighty Xerox corporation, inventor of the photocopier, the graphical user interface, ethernet and the workstation is no more. Today it has been announced that Xerox is to be acquired by Fujifilm, with whom it had the joint venture FujiXerox, for $6.1 bilion.
In recent years, much of Xerox's previous, and quite recent, acquisitions have been sold off including Tektronix in Willsonville, Oregon (acquired for its solid ink technology) and Affiliated Computer Services.
Back in 2011, Xerox entered into a partnership with Indian outsourcing firm HCL, transferring thousands of engineering staff, including most in the UK and mainland Europe.
Related Stories
Ryan Sullivan cancelled what he thought was a "random charge for $4.99 per month from HP called 'Instant Ink'". Then his printer refused to print:
It turns out that HP requires its customers to enroll HP Instant Ink eligible printers into one of the Instant Ink plans, and continue paying a monthly subscription in order to be allowed to use the device.
But where's the need to come up with different plans coming from, you may wonder? HP explains: the company charges a fee based on the number of pages a customer prints each month, and the page count is shockingly monitored remotely.
Naturally, the scheme is not advertised as a rather unusual application of DRM, but a way for customers to save time and money. Still, it would seem HP has not exactly gone out of its way to explain all the consequences to those customers.
HP's terms of service also say that these eligible, internet-connected printers can be remotely modified in several ways, including by applying patches, updates, and "changes" – without notifying customers.
Another thing HP can see thanks to the Instant Ink program is the type of documents you print, identifying them by extension as Word, etc., documents, PDFs, or JPEG and other types of images.
Additionally, the HP cartridges have been locked to specific printers for quite a while now.
Earlier on SN:
US Customers Kick Up Class-Action Stink Over Epson's Kyboshing of Third-Party Ink (2019)
Xerox Is No More (2018)
Meg Whitman Resigns (2017)
Supreme Court Lets Consumers Refill Ink Cartridges (2017)
HP to Issue "Optional Firmware Update" Allowing 3rd-Party Ink (2016)
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Corelli's A on Thursday February 01 2018, @06:26AM (4 children)
The first computer I owned was a surplus Xerox 820 board obtained from their outlet in the early 1980's. Bob Clements disassembled the ROM and provided a set of commented z80 assembler source files, which many of us learned from and modified (Xerox did not include a copyright notice in the ROMs). I installed my x820 into a modified Commodore Pet enclosure with a Cherry keyboard and some open-frame video monitor I got who-knows-where. I credit this system with my early understanding of assembly language which I later put to professional use in writing embedded operating systems for MIPS-based networking equipment.
Oh, the fun we had. Morse-code keyboards, modem controllers, terminal emulators. You kids have no idea the satisfaction bit-banging with timing loops and, whoah! z80 block moves! can bring.
Thank you, Xerox, and the people who brought out the 820. I hope you understand how its second life enriched the knowledge and careers many young experimenters.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 01 2018, @07:09AM (2 children)
Personally I am not against copyright as I am against patents, whose current implementation is a crime bordering on a joke, but I acknowledge that the absence of copyright helped your situation a lot.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 01 2018, @07:30AM (1 child)
These laws *will* come back and bite us in the ass for fomenting the next generation of technological ignoramuses.
Not because they are stupid, or unmotivated... no, the ability to see for themselves how their stuff works has been deemed "illegal" by those fearful they may learn and compete, and the guys who handshake with our lawmakers like it just like it is.
As Americans, we can always depend on other nations, outside our legal jurisdictions, to build our stuff. We can always pay for it with loans.
And when the shit hits the fan, the hand of the "rightsholders" will again extend to the hand of the "law-maker" to pull him from the disaster, in reciprocation for passing the law that put them where they are, and kept their competition at bay.
This reciprocal behaviour between the elite and kings has gone on like this for a long time. The elite get someone else to pass law so as to make it "legal", so the peasants can be compelled to obey, while the kings count from the support from the elite to keep them in authority.
The peasants just try to keep out of the way... until things get too bad... then they all pick up pitchforks. And its a really bad day for kings and elite alike.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday February 01 2018, @09:55AM
Mmm... Not quite that clear a cut.
Look inside today's devices and tell me if you physically could hit those component terminals with an oscilloscope probe.
Or... even if the schematics of a modern CPU would be available, I really doubt any human alone or in a small team could get to understand how it works.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Interesting) by TheGratefulNet on Thursday February 01 2018, @01:21PM
I used a xerox 3000 and 3200 back in the early 80's. programming language was called DACL (diablo app compiler language, iirc).
the hard drives were 5 or 20 meg 'winches'. I have no idea how much they costed, only business would be buying those. the computer was the size of a desk, back then, and the 'winch' was like a filing cabinet that sat next to you.
a pdp11 was also current at the time and higher end customers would buy that, instead.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 01 2018, @08:53AM (3 children)
What's Fujifilm's main business these days? Kodak is pretty much moribund now.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Thursday February 01 2018, @10:35AM (1 child)
Kodak sells printer paper. Highly innovative.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by tibman on Thursday February 01 2018, @04:11PM
I've got a weird Kodak printer that gets used once a month or so: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KO1RJ08/ [amazon.com]
Most of my projects are planned in a graph paper journal. I use that printer to make "sticker" photos that go inside the journal next to the designs. It's better than a polaroid style camera. The journal is like an engineer scrapbook or something?
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 3, Informative) by kazzie on Thursday February 01 2018, @01:44PM
Fujifilm are still making photographic film. They've been steadily dropping some product lines over the years, but they're still in the market.
See here [filmbodies.com] for Thom Hogan's commentary on their current product lineup.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Dr Spin on Thursday February 01 2018, @09:01AM (1 child)
Making America Crap Again?
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 01 2018, @10:23AM
What a slogan for Philips Milk of Magnesia!
(Score: 5, Funny) by kazzie on Thursday February 01 2018, @10:30AM
Did anyone make a photocopy of them before they went?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Bobs on Thursday February 01 2018, @10:56AM (2 children)
One of the things that happens when you start to manage by ‘the numbers’ like Internal Rate of Return’
A percentage / ratio of $ of profit vs Expenses.
Selling off all the expensive bits like factories and employees makes the numbers/ percentages look so much better.
For next quarter.
But where does the business / product / growth come from?
Well, that isn’t in the model.
But the percentages look awesome, and the exec’s and board and consultants get paid for hitting their percentage targets.
Management By Parasite.
They know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by turgid on Thursday February 01 2018, @11:47AM (1 child)
Exactly. I have first hand experience of this at Xerox. I was one of the Engineers transferred to HCL. They did it with everything. They even outsourced the people who wrote the manuals and did the translations. Every year the Occupational Health budget would be cut back, and the catering budget. The canteen meals shrank over time.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 5, Funny) by Aiwendil on Thursday February 01 2018, @12:43PM
That is probably the single most literal way of downsizing the workforce I've ever read about
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 01 2018, @03:57PM (1 child)
As of today, PARC is still going -- https://www.parc.com/ [parc.com]
In terms of fundamental innovation, they may be a shadow of their early days, but someone must still see value in long term research
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PARC_(company) [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 02 2018, @02:10AM
I'm quite certain that that accolade goes to Doug Engelbart and his Augmentation Research Center. [wikipedia.org]
Now, Xerox did hone that to a nice edge at PARC. [wikipedia.org]
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]