HP LaserJet and Edgeline Printers - Support End Date for Discrete (Product Specific) Printer Drivers Drawer Statement
Document Attributes: LaserJet Marketing
HP Strategy Statement: Support End Date For Discrete
(Product Specific) Printer Drivers
Drawer Statement
Security Leve
l:
External
Date Written/Updated: July 15, 2008
Document Summary
a Strategy statement on change in driver strategy and future support approach
Summary
This document outlines the end-date for support of discrete drivers for HP LaserJet and Edgeline
print devices. This document only applies to devices supported by discrete drivers and the HP
Universal Print Driver; host based devices are not affected by this policy change. Please visit
hp.com/go/upd – click on the “Specifications” tab.
Background
The HP Universal Print Drivers (HP UPD) and the technology which they are based on represent
the future of the driver strategy for most HP LaserJet and Edgeline printers. The HP UPD provides
customers an opportunity to reduce the number of drivers (and frequently the number of print
queues) that are maintained. Over time, these changes reduce enterprise investment in print
driver management.
Transitioning HP customers and devices to the HP UPD is a multi-year project. Over the past 2
years, HP has worked closely with enterprise customers on both the testing and deployment of
the HP UPD. As of this spring (Spring 2008), the HP UPD is the only driver provided for Postscript
and PCL5 (for non-host based devices). PCL6 discrete and UPD drivers are provided for devices
launching Spring 2008 through approximately Fall 2009, after which only the UPD will be supplied
for PCL6 as well.
Changes
Support for discrete drivers (device specific drivers) for devices released before April 1, 2008 will
be managed by moving customers to the HP UPD drivers. This new strategy will be put into effect
on January 1, 2009, after which any issues reported in the legacy PS and PCL5 discrete drivers
will be addressed by having customers install the HP UPD drivers. If, after installing the HP UPD,
the issue persists, then the issues will be addressed in the HP UPD drivers versus the discrete
driver. NOTE: Support for legacy PCL6 discrete drivers will be continued. (There is no
planned end date at this point in time.)
Please note that if customers are not experiencing issues with their discrete drivers, they can
continue to use them indefinitely.