HP 1200 printer

> I purchased Vista 64 believing it would work as well as the XP 64 edition.
> I was wrong.
>
> Even somthing simple like sharing a printer is a chore.
>
> HP lists a number of different drivers for the HP 1200 Printer and recomends
> the PL6 version. Yet when I tryed to install Vista will not take it and
> installs a PL5 version. No where can you find out what is the correct
> driver. The printer is 5 years old why can't HP tell you that the printer is
> too old to take the PL6.
>
> The printer prints from the vista 64 desktop. I want to set it up as a
> shared pritner to use with my XP laptop on my home network. Sounds simple
> and it should be simple.
> trying to install as a network of attached printer on my laptop intall
> starts to work then Vista wants to install the drivers on to my xp machine.
> Problem is HP did not provide x86 with the vista 64 driver, so there is
> nothing x86 to install.
>
> Next I called Miscrosoft, spent two hours on hold with india. They were
> clueless.
> Thier tack wss that it was an HP problem and that they would patch me
> through to HP, which they did. Soon as we connect with HP, Micosoft India
> hangs up.
> Then HP says my printer is not in warranty and wants $39.00 to anwser
> questions. The printer is not broken its the software that now one
> understand and does not work.
>
> So as a user I had to fix the probkem myself.
> I Changed my network to public
> paused my firewall
> installed as local printer on my laptop with a port setting \\(desktop
> name)\printer
> and using the PL5 drivers and now it works
>
> MicoGreed should have know this. Maybe they should hire more US citizens to
> help cutomers and do customer service in the US.
>
> Then I changed the network back to private and restated my firewall and I
> now can print from my laptop though the vista 64 desktop to the shared HP
> 1200 printer.
>
> Why it works I don't know but it does.
>
> Why did microgreed not know somthing simple such as printer sharing. Vista
> is loaded with many worthless features, yet something major like being able
> to print is a chore.
> Wake up Microgreed printing is a big deal. I can live with only 4 screen
> saver screens instead of 6, who cares. Printer however is a killer app and
> you need to make it work.
>