Q: Apple failure - El Capitan and printers - cannot get a fix in order to use my Canon MP530.

Complain to Canon.

It's not Apple's responsibility to ensure that non-Apple products work with each new version of OS X.

Canon had plenty of time to test their printer software before El Capitan became available to the general public.

They failed to update their software in time.

Not Apple's fault in any way, shape or form.

It's not Apple's responsibility to test any third-party hardware before releasing a new version of software.

It's the third-party's responsibility.

This is the same for ALL companies that produce computer operating systems, Google, Apple, Microsoft, etc.

How would they know to produce a warning?

It's your responsibility to check beforehand to see if anybody is reporting any problems with any software or hardware that you depend on.

You have to do your due diligence as a consumer and make sure everything you have or are going to put on your computer is compatible with the operating system it's running.  I feel like I've said this a billion times since El Capitan was released; it's not Apple's responsibility to make sure third-party developers update their products to work with each successive operating system.  El Capitan was in beta testing for a year.  That meant that all the developers out there had a year to make sure their drivers/programs/software/etc., were compatible with it.  If they didn't, it's their fault, not Apple's.  Apple can't produce a warning telling you such-and-such on your computer won't work because it's not updated — how are they supposed to know it's not updated?

Complain to Canon.  That's your only recourse.  We can't help you, and Apple as a corporation certainly can't.

My guess would be that Canon will not bother updating drivers for a 9 year old printer.

And, according to this article, they actively chose not to provide drivers for it to Apple: Printer and scanner software available for download for your Mac - Apple Support

Gimp-Print has experimental drivers for the MP530: http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/p_Supported_Printers.php

sea kindly wrote:

 

Learning the hard way - I needed to upgrade my browser for an on-line course I am taking. To upload Safari, I needed to upgrade the OS.   I repeat - a warning for us "non-developers, non-techies" would be really useful so we could investigate if our devices would still work.  APPLE has some responsibility here.

I put new tires on my car and the entire car still works.

That's not a very good analogy.  If you need new tires on your car, it's your job to make sure the tires you buy are the right size for the car, the right tread......whatever specifications you need.  It's not Honda's responsibility to make sure you put the correct tires on your car.  The only time it's Honda's responsibility is when you buy the car directly from them and drive it off the lot.  There's an expectation that at that moment, the car is drivable.  After that, it's all on you, particularly when the parts concerned are not Honda's responsibility.