I don’t know about you, but I’ve been enraged when trying to download printer drivers for various computers on different operating systems and getting them to work. Sometimes things happen to work out. Other times it’s a royal pain in the butt. Either way, nothing seems as elegant as what Google Cloud Print will soon offer:
Imagine printing an important email from your Chrome notebook on your train ride to work, then finding the completed printout in the printer tray when you reach the office. Or printing your airline boarding pass from your smartphone to your home printer, so you can grab the printout on your way out the door. Today, we are one big step closer to this vision.
This is MUCH closer to reality than you think: an entire line of HP printers will be compatible right out of the gate. What will you need to actually print something on a Google Cloud Print enabled computer?
- Printer must be connected to the Internet (either wired or wi-fi acceptable)
- A device capable of sending the “print” command which – on launch – will include: GMail mobile (phone), Googl Docs Mobile (phone), Chrome Extension & Firefox Add-on (desktops & laptops), Android App (yay), and Chrome Notebooks!
I don’t know how often I’d use Google Cloud Print myself because I don’t print a lot of documents. That being said, I can’t tell you how often I WANT to print something out but remember that my Desktop on Vista x86 isn’t compatible with any of our 3 printers and my laptop isn’t recognized via USB with them either so I have to use my roomates computer.
It’s all about making things easier and Google Cloud Print will provide a new level of flexibility and capabilities to a formerly rigid and somewhat irritating printing landscape. Or maybe all along I’ve just been buying crappy printers and crappy computers that have problems… you tell me.
