Note: I have no connexion with Epson, other than owning one of their products, which I paid for fully. Same thing for the software I mention.
I have an old Epson scanner (Perfection 1650) that I have used for ages whenever I needed to “reverse print” a document. On getting a newer, bigger SSD hard drive for my PC I reinstalled Windows 7. Evidently previously I was on x86, because now that I’ve installed x64, my scanner would no longer work!
Repairing to the Epson drivers site1 I found they did not have a x64 driver and apparently do not have plans to. This is understandable, since the scanner is old and not sold anymore.2 What isn’t understandable from the conventional, cynical viewpoint is that they openly mention in the FAQ for the scanner3 that there is a third party program that DOES support this old model on x64 based Windows.
This completely surprized me, since the “logical” thing would be to just say “sorry, time to upgrade! Go buy another Epson here” and make some more money. As far as I can tell, the third party is truly a third party and not owned by Epson or at all endorsed by them. I kindof wonder, did the editor of the FAQ slip it in the way someone behind the counter might say “Unofficially now, you could try …”?
I hope not. I’d like to think Epson knew about this an approved it. I certainly liked it. I followed the link, and use the software on my old Epson. I have no idea if I’ll buy another Epson scanner when this one has to finally be replaced.
- http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/SupportIndex.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes <- ↩
- http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/ProductCategory.do?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=-16223 <- ↩
- http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&infoType=FAQ&oid=14551&prodoid=6464130&foid=156378 <- ↩
