Herewith the last word...

with regard to the NKC Public Library's Wi-Fi printing:

http://www.northkclibrary.org/news.cfm?newsid=11

Nice going, NKC. A printer available only to Windows users. What'll you think of next?

Can't help wondering, though, what you'll say to the first Macintosh users that aren't running Windows-either because unlike our friend Macenstein they couldn't see spending an extra couple of hundred bucks for it, or because they're using a Power PC-based Mac that can't run Windows-that ask you how they can fatten your coffers by paying you ten cents a page-or whatever you charge-for the dubious privilege of printing away from home. I mean, will it be something like, "Sorry, your tax money isn't as valuable to us as that from Windows users; you'll have to get in line to use one of our workstations and thus make it unavailable for someone else who doesn't own a laptop if you need to print?"

I still think this is one of the least worthwhile services I can imagine, but if you consider it worth offering to your patrons, why not offer it to ALL OF THEM? Mac and Linux users pay taxes too, you know. So do people who may have acquired second-hand laptops running earlier versions of Windows that your handy-dandy .exe file might not be supported by. You know-people who might have scraped together the cash to buy those second-hand laptops just so they wouldn't have to wait in line for one of your workstations anymore.

There are cross-platform solutions available for providing this service. Having considered spending the public's money to buy anything else-let alone actually buying it-strikes me as malfeasance. Good luck trying to convince the public otherwise when you're inevitably called upon to do so. You'll need it.