I think the problem is "an old IBM 4019" isn't a scalable solution. I can't tell my Mom to go to Staples and pick up an IBM 4019, let alone figure out how to chain it to a modern PC, set up non-auto-installing drivers, etc.
Being able to say "the firmware comes from an external "neutral" party is a shorthand for "they have no reason to try to bait-and-switch on consumables". The default answer in the SOHO space is "buy a Brother laser" but that puts a lot of trust in a firm that's no doubt under constant temptation to do the exact same thing HP is doing.
It may also mean "broad support is likely because it's speaking well-documented languages." You can make a potato talk to a PostScript, PCL, or old ESC/P dot-matrix, but if you're outside of Windows/MacOS/maybe certain blessed Linux setups, your random cheapo inkjet is a crapshoot.
Being able to say "the firmware comes from an external "neutral" party is a shorthand for "they have no reason to try to bait-and-switch on consumables". The default answer in the SOHO space is "buy a Brother laser" but that puts a lot of trust in a firm that's no doubt under constant temptation to do the exact same thing HP is doing.
It may also mean "broad support is likely because it's speaking well-documented languages." You can make a potato talk to a PostScript, PCL, or old ESC/P dot-matrix, but if you're outside of Windows/MacOS/maybe certain blessed Linux setups, your random cheapo inkjet is a crapshoot.