Quoting Simon Hobson (simon@???):

> IMO you've demonstrated why such things as DNS-SD and mDNS are a good idea.

They might be a good idea, but not on my networks.

(I continually find myself making the point on Dng that the quest
for universal solutions may be noble in its aims but will never
really succeed very well.)

> You and I have the skills to go and find the printer's IP address, but we are not typical users who cannot do that.

Well, since you raise that assertion, no, I do _not_ agree. They can do it
fairly easily. They just aren't _likely_ to. Steps:

1.  Write down the printer make/model.
2.  Web-search documentation.
3.  Find where in the documentation it says how to make the printer
    print out or otherwise display its network configuration.  Do that.

> In much the same way, you (I assume) and I are happy to edit text
> files etc to configure our systems, but we are not typical users who
> cannot do that.

Again, they _can_. They just aren't likely to.

E.g., at one point, the Vice-President of Silicon Valley Linux User
group asked on a mailing list how to solve a technical problem, and
I replied back stating a complete solution using basic command-line
tools. He said he wasn't willing to do that, and insisted on a
graphical-tool equivalent. I cheerily replied that I had no problem
with him imposing that additional requirement, wished him the very
best of luck, and moved on to other priorities.

Somehow, he found this dissatisfying. I, on the other hand, appreciated
him warning me that I was better off lavishing my available time and
energy elsewhere, so at least *I* got something out of the encounter.

> So it comes down to a) try to kill the chatty discovery protocols and
> perpetuate the "geeks vs users" divide....

Was there a particular part of 'not on _my_ network' that was unclear?