Look- I'm just a guy on his computer on his day off. I apologize if I am not "professional" enough for you.
Ricoh's official statement is that 10.10 is not a supported OS. So MY official stance is that 10.10 is not a supported OS. And anything else I say is my own opinion that is in no way supported or condoned by Ricoh or any of its affiliates both foreign and domestic.
Is that better? I don't think so. It puts the blame on YOU for updating. So let's dig deeper instead. But now you just get me. I'm not speaking as a Ricoh rep, I'm speaking as a grumpy old tech who knows too much about Ricoh machines and has dealt with Apple for many years.
First of all I think you're making a LOT of assumptions, but let me play devil's advocate for a minute: you say Ricoh has been working with the Yosemite beta for months. I'm not in a position to comment on that, but I am in a position to relay that Ricoh's official stance is that 10.10 is not a supported OS. And if Ricoh was working with Apple, we can assume Apple knew Ricoh did not support Yosemite, but they released it anyway- and you say it was a KNOWN issue. That means Apple KNEW it would break printing on Ricoh devices. And they released it anyway. There's also issues with HP, Lexmark, Xerox, Dropbox and many others. Were they not part of the beta program?
Did printing work before the 10.10 update? Yes. Does it work after the update? No.
Did the printer change? No. Did the software change? YES.
Troubleshooting 101: The software changed, so the problem lies with the software.
Can Ricoh fix the software? No. Will Apple fix it? Look- I don't want to seem cynical, but if this change is like every other change Apple has made that affects hardware operation and device connectivity, this WAS the fix. They decided there was a "better" way to do things, so now that's the way it's going to be done, and the world must change to accommodate them.
So Ricoh must find a way to make their machines work with the new software. But what will that take?
If you open a web browser and put the Printer's IP address (or hostname) in the address bar, you SHOULD see the printer's web image monitor. Before the update, that worked. After the update, it does not on any of the models we've tested. So what does that tell us? It tells us a few things- the main takeaway is that the computer is no longer able to establish a connection with the printer. And I don't know why that is.
But it suggests quite strongly that a simple print driver update is unlikely to fix anything. Browsing to the HTML files embedded in the device's controller has nothing to do with the print driver. And that means the fundamental connection between the two devices simply isn't happening- so it's likely the firmware must be updated to address whatever change Apple made. But first it must be written- and it is written for specific hardware. And each model of machine has different firmware, and Ricoh has dozens of models, hundreds if you look past current-gen models in production now (spoilers: most people are using older devices no longer in production.) And let's further consider that Apple has in the past made changes that were impossible to address with certain hardware configurations- especially older equipment. This isn't the first time that something that worked fine for years suddenly stopped working overnight because Apple changed something. And for older machines, it might mean it will never work again. And remember- NOTHING changed on the Ricoh device. It's the same as it ever was, only now it might not work ever again.
And don't forget, firmware updates aren't really meant to be performed by the end user. So there's that.
But let's also consider if a print driver update is necessary (to fix the issue or maybe as an addition to a firmware update.) Apple prints to Ricoh devices using Postscript. If THAT needs to be updated, we're looking at 3rd party licensing fees as well as looking to Adobe to now update Postscript. This is probably unnecessary. Probably. But there's still the task of updating the code on what could turn out to be literally hundreds of print drivers- and the newest most profitable models are sure to be addressed first .
So to simplify greatly- for Ricoh to "fix" the "problem," here is what is likely to be required:
1) Code updates for firmware for dozens of different device types currently in production (and likely multiple updates per machine)
2) Possible updated 3rd party licensing per device (Adobe) as well as possible 3rd party software updates
3) Updated print drivers for every supported device
4) Repeat all of this for legacy models, if it's even possible.
And this doesn't even begin to touch on the possible complications from the connectivity changes for Java and other 3rd party applications.
And why? Because Apple changed... something. For... reasons. I'm sure they're good ones, too.
So let's keep playing devil's advocate. Let's say Ricoh DID have their hands on the Yosemite beta months ago. And to keep playing, we have to assume nothing changed in the Yosemite build that pertains to device communication or printing. So Ricoh is the bad guy because... they didn't seamlessly produce all of these updates in... months?
Look- I know I seem a bit hostile. But at this stage I still don't know what Apple changed, or what their compelling reason was for changing it. But whatever it was, it's going to require a TON of effort from every level of the Ricoh organization to "fix" and that's for (and I'm being generous here) maybe 5% of Ricoh's customers. All of this has happened before, and it will happen again.
I wonder why nobody ever asks why Apple doesn't provide legacy support instead of just breaking things they don't like any more. And some days I'd almost bet that at least for some Apple users, if their laptop battery exploded and killed half their family they'd sooner sue the power company for bad electricity than consider Apple might be at fault.
