They absolutely should, yes.
That still doesn't mean they should support whatever printer you think it appropriate to provide. That isn't the way it works.
( Kroney, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:40, 1 reply, 12 years ago)

I should clarify, here, a couple of things
one - by support, I mean "allow me to download the driver" and "don't come into my office and remove it" - I don't expect them to stock consumables or anything and
two - I will happily have any printer they recommend. I don't want something weird. And I will pay for it. I don't think that I somehow know better than them. I will buy my own consumables for it. What I want is to be able to print something when I need it fucking printed. Not in 3 days time when the replacement toner that the MFD automatically ordered for itself (Oh, sorry, did I fail to mention the "not carrying any toner for any of them on site" part?) has arrived and been located on the other side of the University where it has invetiably been wrongly delivered.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:45, Reply)

I'm sorry you're annoyed with your printers
It sounds like you have a shitty IT department. I'm just pointing out that it's almost universal that IT departments will only support the kit they provide.
( Kroney, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:48, Reply)

My IT department is shit, as is the one in every company I've worked in.
Except when it was a two person team with no policies but just fixed things.
(PsychoChomp, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:50, Reply)

Most of the time, the shitness comes from stupid call logging practices
with tickets and SLAs and shit. Bureaucratic bullshit. People call us up and we fix whatever it is on the phone. If there's a reason we can't do something, or support something, we'll say so. If you don't like it, tough shit.
( Kroney, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:54, Reply)

Shit.

( Kroney, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:54, Reply)

did rory just turn into AL THE DELETER?
sad, sad times
( rachelswipe with a fork, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:51, Reply)

No Al the deleter just returned. I don't like having Rory on the end of my posts.

(Bazongaloid, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:55, Reply)

oh
WTP
( rachelswipe with a fork, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:57, Reply)

Worse than Pakers?

(Bazongaloid, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:58, Reply)

poor apey
always the butt of everyone's jokes
( rachelswipe with a fork, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:59, Reply)

Bit racist.

( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 13:02, Reply)

^ UPSET ^

( Reginald Donkeyfuck, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:58, Reply)

www.b3ta.com/questions/offtopic/post2030786
(Bazongaloid, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 13:04, Reply)

No Rory hasn't deleted anything. actual Al The Deleter is up to his old tricks

( Reginald Donkeyfuck, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:57, Reply)

it's a slippery slope to wishing someone was DEAD from here
edit well, the below proves MY point
( rachelswipe with a fork, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:59, Reply)

what's a slippery slope?

( Reginald Donkeyfuck, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 13:02, Reply)

Your mums vagina.

(Bazongaloid, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 13:03, Reply)

I hate you so much, I wish you had died a few years ago before you ruined the internet.

(Bazongaloid, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 13:05, Reply)

www.b3ta.com/questions/offtopic/post2030791
( Reginald Donkeyfuck, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 13:07, Reply)

yeah.. we're talking about a different use of the word "support" here.
I really just mean "let me have a standalone printer which I will maintain"

Oddly, my "local" IT, as in the school, are great, and are as irritated with the printers as anyone. But central IT writes policy.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:51, Reply)

Here if people want to install their home printers on roaming laptops, we'll provide the drivers but no support.
The branches get printers bought through the IT budget fully supported. We will not allow them to install any kit they buy themselves, full stop. I've told people I can't support USB mice before now. It does make sense from an IT perspective because without a fairly homogenous pool of hardware, it can become surprisingly difficult to troubleshoot problems quite quickly.
( Kroney, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:59, Reply)

I agree
So what IT need, therefore, is to tell me which printer I CAN buy and install. I don't even need a choice. So they could have one acceptable printer on a list and I would buy it. That's about as homogenous a pool as you could ask for, really.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 13:04, Reply)

No arguments here!
I expect they're either locked into a contract with the original supplier of those printers, have no budget to replace them or just don't give a shit. Having worked in a school, I could believe any or all of these.
( Kroney, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 13:09, Reply)

Or are contractually allowed to provide?

(localboy purveyor of pisspoor puns, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:51, Reply)

this is, I suspect, the route of the problem
Also, because no-one picked up on this in the general shenanigans, can someone tell me how the blue fuck a printer is changing fonts on a pdf? that's just witchcraft.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:55, Reply)

I've had that occasionally.
Instead of letters, the printer just prints rows of little boxes.
(Bazongaloid, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:56, Reply)

this converts all the text to a totally different font
where the capitals are massive and the lower case letters are tiny. It's just about readable, but it's a fucking pain
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 12:58, Reply)

"root"

( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Mon 29 Jul 2013, 13:05, Reply)