Mom bought a canon printer and she installed the software herself. Now she has 6 icons on her desktop:
- Canon MP250 series user guide
- Canon My Printer
- Canon MP Navigator EX 3.0
- Canon Easy-PhotoPrint EX
- Canon solution menu- this starts automatically on every boot and asks if I want to go to a web page that has free high-quality ready-to-use printable material or register my printer online (why?)
- Canon MP250 series online registration
I wonder what’s the motivation behind filling the desktop with these icons. Isn’t it a good enough user experience if my printer prints properly? Why does the printer need constant visibility and attention?
Meanwhile, I got a prompt saying the solution manager has an update and if I want to install it. Having been away from the Windows world for so long, I forgot computing on Windows was actually a pretty dreadful experience, giving constant attention to keep the computer in working condition.
(Although I have to admit that Adobe tries really hard to bring this model to Macs: “you must close all software and restart your computer after installation” installers, update managers that take up space in your tray although they don’t need it, extention managers with slow useless fancy UIs, I-wonder-who-uses-it Adobe Bridge etc…)
I’ll research about this compulsion of printer/scanner manufacturers and if they are doing this just because they can or if they have some metrics behind their crap apps (I doubt).
If they want to provide top-notch UX for Windows 8, Microsoft has to somehow dictate PC and peripheral manufacturers not to overload systems with crappy software. Do you ever remember buying a new Windows computer and having a true “clean” installation?