It started with a pretty innocuous topic.
My elder brother, faced a dilemma. He could buy a cheap inkjet printer but pay more on the ink, or he could pay more for a laserjet printer and pay less for the toner over the long run. Did you know that ink is worth more per gallon than petrol?
I didnt think twice. I recommended buying a inkjet printer and using compatible ink.
Why not? Compatible ink is about 60% cheaper than the branded products! Granted, I have not been able to achieve true blacks, magenta always seemed to be dispensed a little too freely, and typography does not appear as sharply defined as I would like, but why complain about quality when the price is right?
And just at this point, it hit me. The fight between original ink and compatible ink is like our perpetual ongoing debate about foreign talent invading our shores.
Original ink offers you trouble-free printing (no leaks, clogs etc), advanced ink formulation, highly developed print cartridges and even something as abstract as a peace of mind! These quotes are taken directly from HP website.
In many ways, this argument is like justifying why we should hire local graduates. They move in almost seamlessly into our companys culture from their locally accredited university and the manager would have no worries about his quality of work. 2nd lower, why dont you wait back in line, son? (Dont call us, well call you)
Compatible ink is reverse engineered, it takes existing print-head technologies and inject ink into these cartridges. This results in the purported ink spillage if not done properly. The user also runs the risk of a bad print job and worst, it might even spoil the printer!
Sound familiar? Foreign talent who enter companies tend to have difficulty assimilating into our local culture and could even break up an entire division or with a failure of local insight, destroy the company! Lately, with the advent of acculturation lessons, instances like this is fast becoming old news.
Similarly, compatible ink damaging printers is old news. Just as how the Compaq Portable (a deceiving name for a 12.5 kg computer) successfully and legally reverse engineered the IBM PC in 1983, the same technology has caught up to the giants of the printing world and compatible ink is almost as good as original ink to the untrained eye.
Yet, this has not stopped the printing giants along with their marketing departments endowed with enormous budgets from carrying on with their diatribe about compatible ink and misinforming the public about the intricacies of ink through scare tactics. Why wouldnt they? I would do anything to protect my precious stream of income, especially if it is flowing faster than OPEC can discover new sources of black gold.
At the very least, we now know why we are paying so much and how much of our payment goes into actual R&D. How about R&D focusing on cheaper ink, Goliaths?
In the same way, locals stating that foreign talent are not as capable clearly reflects our lack of social grace and industry knowledge and is pretty much similar to how Goliath trying to discredit David through smear tactics, pun intended.
Foreign talent is fast catching up to us in terms of quality of output and fitting into our culture. So while the local flavour might always be preferred by companies for ease, these foreign talents are giving us locals a run for our Singaporean dollar.
What can we do? Honestly, for the majority of ordinary Singaporeans, we have no choice but to watch them wheedle away at our income while the exceptional seek greener pastures overseas. After all, who else but our government is welcoming them with open arms?
My elder brother, faced a dilemma. He could buy a cheap inkjet printer but pay more on the ink, or he could pay more for a laserjet printer and pay less for the toner over the long run. Did you know that ink is worth more per gallon than petrol?
I didnt think twice. I recommended buying a inkjet printer and using compatible ink.
Why not? Compatible ink is about 60% cheaper than the branded products! Granted, I have not been able to achieve true blacks, magenta always seemed to be dispensed a little too freely, and typography does not appear as sharply defined as I would like, but why complain about quality when the price is right?
And just at this point, it hit me. The fight between original ink and compatible ink is like our perpetual ongoing debate about foreign talent invading our shores.
Original ink offers you trouble-free printing (no leaks, clogs etc), advanced ink formulation, highly developed print cartridges and even something as abstract as a peace of mind! These quotes are taken directly from HP website.
In many ways, this argument is like justifying why we should hire local graduates. They move in almost seamlessly into our companys culture from their locally accredited university and the manager would have no worries about his quality of work. 2nd lower, why dont you wait back in line, son? (Dont call us, well call you)
Compatible ink is reverse engineered, it takes existing print-head technologies and inject ink into these cartridges. This results in the purported ink spillage if not done properly. The user also runs the risk of a bad print job and worst, it might even spoil the printer!
Sound familiar? Foreign talent who enter companies tend to have difficulty assimilating into our local culture and could even break up an entire division or with a failure of local insight, destroy the company! Lately, with the advent of acculturation lessons, instances like this is fast becoming old news.
Similarly, compatible ink damaging printers is old news. Just as how the Compaq Portable (a deceiving name for a 12.5 kg computer) successfully and legally reverse engineered the IBM PC in 1983, the same technology has caught up to the giants of the printing world and compatible ink is almost as good as original ink to the untrained eye.
Yet, this has not stopped the printing giants along with their marketing departments endowed with enormous budgets from carrying on with their diatribe about compatible ink and misinforming the public about the intricacies of ink through scare tactics. Why wouldnt they? I would do anything to protect my precious stream of income, especially if it is flowing faster than OPEC can discover new sources of black gold.
At the very least, we now know why we are paying so much and how much of our payment goes into actual R&D. How about R&D focusing on cheaper ink, Goliaths?
In the same way, locals stating that foreign talent are not as capable clearly reflects our lack of social grace and industry knowledge and is pretty much similar to how Goliath trying to discredit David through smear tactics, pun intended.
Foreign talent is fast catching up to us in terms of quality of output and fitting into our culture. So while the local flavour might always be preferred by companies for ease, these foreign talents are giving us locals a run for our Singaporean dollar.
What can we do? Honestly, for the majority of ordinary Singaporeans, we have no choice but to watch them wheedle away at our income while the exceptional seek greener pastures overseas. After all, who else but our government is welcoming them with open arms?