Digital BW, The Print

Phil and Nij-

With all due respect to both of you... And this isn't a flame at Cone 
who I respect and wildly applaud for being a pioneer that brought BW 
printing back into my life... Many, if not most, of the people who 
switched to MIS ink did it because despite all the polite quick tech 
support at IJM, we could not get the system to work with the piezo 
ink. I LOVED THE INK when it didn't clog. The bad news was that for 
whatever reason (maybe it's Epson's fault...I don't care whose fault 
it was) I was spending a lot more time fighting clogs than I was 
printing. Since switching to MIS I can truthfully say I have never 
had a clog that didn't clean with a single nozzle check/clean cycle.

Now that I'm using FS with piezo, I like the more neutral print. I 
like the VM with Paul's curves, too. I still have a set of unopened 
piezo carts and I just can't work up the courage to try them again 
because I don't want to waste a lot of time trying to make them work. 
I never experienced it, but there was a litany of problems on the 
piezo site about the greenies that as far as I know never really 
got "solved" (at least the solution was never posted) but seems to 
have gone away, either from some adjustment in the ink mix or 
whatever.

I still would fully expect that IJM would give me tech support for 
the software...not for the software and MIS ink...ink/profile 
matching is my own issue if I don't use the piezo ink/paper since 
that is what the profile IS... But if I have a problem where the 
software itself is not working... Crashing my system or whatever, I 
would expect someone at IJM to help me, and I'm sure they would (I 
would be both surprised and outraged if they did not).

My point is that I agree with your assertions that Cone tech support 
is prompt and try very hard to be helpful. But the actual support on 
the INK ISSUES that came up fell short. To the best of my knowledge 
there have been no solutions given to those who suffer from ink 
greenies and killer clogs.

And you know what... If Jon announced a new ink today, I'd buy it 
tomorrow and try it. 

Tom O'Connell


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "pbard2002" <phil@p...> 
wrote:
> Perhaps what I should have said when I originally responded to the 
> question about why use Jon's inks, is that with his approach you 
get a 
> system with tech support.  That means a software product and inks 
and 
> someone at the company who can be called or emailed when problems 
> arise.  Although I've heard that occasionally some have not 
received 
> prompt answers, by far most who comment on Cone's service agree 
that is 
> on the superb side of average. That is my direct experience with 
them. 
> Now if MIS is providing this kind of phone/email response, I am the 
> first to applaud them for it.  That was not my experience, however, 
> though this was a few months back, admittedly.  An email 3 weeks 
later 
> was not what I would have called proper tech support. Apparently 
> they've got their act together... that's great news. Yes, you can 
save 
> some money on the cost of their ink, and if that suits you, go for 
it.
> 
> The significant difference between the 2 companies, ink qualities 
> aside, is that with Cone you get a system, and with MIS you get 
ink.  
> The software side of the MIS system comes from the generosity of 
Paul 
> Roark and the online community, and there is of course a lot of 
dialog 
> available there, as well as a few articles on the MIS website.  It 
is 
> not really company tech support, but, as I said, it may be adequate 
for 
> you.  That depends on your particular working situation. But 
although I 
> have not required it, many people, both on this list and the Piezo 
3000 
> list, have needed help with the ink product itself.  And I believe 
that 
> goes for both Cone and MIS inks. 
> 
> Phil
> http://philbard.com