The industry chose profit over purpose.
Ink that expires before you use it. Subscriptions for permission to print. Cartridges that report empty while still half full. Machines designed to be replaced, not repaired.
9pm. Document needed by morning.
The printer hadn't been used in two weeks. Long enough for the ink to dry. The screen said "empty"—even though we'd barely used it.
Another trip to the store. Another overpriced cartridge. Forty-five minutes lost to what should have taken thirty seconds.
That night, we started asking: why do printers have to be this way?