there's just something really flawed about a technology that requires wasting expensive consumables as part of the regular maintenance/troubleshooting. if you're buying genuine cartridges and good inkjet paper, all those cleaning and alignment cycles are going to add up fast and may not even solve the issue.
imagine if you were having problems with your dishwasher, and the recommended solution was to throw 5-10 detergent tablets in and run a cleaning cycle. and if that didn't work, put another 5-10 tablets in and run the cycle again...flushing all your detergent, electricity and water cash down the drain to try something that may not even have any effect.
laser printers have their own issues for sure, but at least they're not so finicky like inkjets that break down if you print a bit too much, or clog/dry up if you print a bit too little.
this is an old Oatmeal, but it is still relevant today:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/printers
