I'll try to atone with a more heartfelt hate, okay?
We just got one of the shiny new HP multifunction print / scan / copy /
fold / spindle / mutilate devices that all the kids are taking off to
college these days.
Really, the scanner is the bit I'm interested in -- I've got a box full
of old photos that I'd like to bring in to iPhoto before they fade any
more than they already have. While I know that OSX can just Wing It (tm)
with most printers, I've never had a scanner, so I'm assuming that I'll
actually need to install HP's software to drive it.
I'm hoping this is incorrect, but I may be stuck.
The first sign of trouble is that the installer pollutes several new
icons on the Dock. Apparently the assumption is that I'm going to fill
up the house with a family of HP devices, so much so that I'm always
going to need: quick access to a HP Device Manager to juggle them all.
I'll also need frequent access to the HP Photosmart Studio, which is
kind of like iPhoto, but adds the ability to import scans into its own
image library (stored helpfully under ~/Documents rather than somewhere
weird like ~/Pictures). Oh and it takes all the other features away.
Finally, the Dock is also now blessed with HP Scan Pro, the friendly
utility that automatically launches when scanning. Other companies use
such helper apps, but they meekly leave them off the Dock, only showing
up when needed, or -- horror! -- written in such a way that they don't
have Dock icons. But not HP -- they have the courage of their
convictions, yes they do.
So, okay, let's try it out.
Weirdly, on each scan run, before doing anything else, Scan Pro insists
(by way of a modal dropdown dialog no less) that I have to pick a name
for what I'm scanning before I scan anything. Fine, whatever -- most
software lets you pick the name after other options, but it's not a big
deal either way. Hilariously, if you don't pick a name here -- and
you'll find this out later, but you don't get a chance to change your
mind if you opt-out -- then HP will cheerfully pick random hexadecimal
names for you: sc053debfd.jpg sc053ec034.jpg sc053f4e88.jpg et cetera.
If you want to scan multiple images in one run, no problem, it can do
that too. But not as you might expect. If you pick "photo" as the prefix
to use, then the first image will be "photo.jpg", the second will be
"photo01.jpg", the third will be "photo02.jpg", etc. This is perfect if
you want to rename the first to photo00.jpg & do that whole zero-offset
thing.
Don't try to outsmart it, though. If you pick "photo01" as your prefix,
then you'll get "photo01.jpg", "photo0101.jpg", "photo0102.jpg"... etc.
Brilliant.
My favorite though came up the first time I tried to import some photos
from my camera into iPhoto after installing the HP software.
1. Put the SD card in the card reader, as I've done for years now.
2. iPhoto launches, as it has done for years now.
3. iPhoto detects the card, as it has done for years now.
Note the false sense of security by this point. Not a care in the world.
4. iPhoto detects a bunch of images on the card, as it has done...
5. Click on "Import All", as I have done for years now.
6. iPhoto VERY QUICKLY gets through all the photos, imports nothing.
7. iPhoto cheerfully asks "Import done, delete everything?"
8. I frantically click "NO" and yank the card out of the reader.
Around this point I notice that HP has cleverly arranged things such
that the SD card isn't showing up in the Finder, as it has always done
in the past. So dragging them over from the Finder to iPhoto manually
would be an option, if a cumbersome one, but that's out now too.
I could do `cp` from /Volumes/whatever, but that's really not palatable.
One, it would mean copying to the local drive & dragging in to iPhoto,
which means an extra transfer & waste of time & disk space; two, it's
way more complex than the previous "click a button" approach; and three,
there's no way my wife will go for that.
Helpfully, it looks like the HP Photosmart Studio offers a solution, as
found in the help system:
If you have an HP digital camera, All-in-One product, or printer
with a memory card slot, you use the Import button in HP Photosmart
Studio to import photos to your computer. After your images are
imported, you can place them in HP Photosmart Studio or iPhoto.
Golly! So it really is the case that the best workflow their designers
could think of, the best optimization they could think of to improve
upon "click one button", was to shim in a big heavy secondary
application, let it copy the photos to the local hard drive, then have
you manually drag them in to iPhoto.
Just like I was going to do with `cp`, but with less typing.
Best of all, the HP software comes with an uninstaller.
--
Chris Devers
DO NOT LEAVE IT IS NOT REAL
