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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1500862
The Story of VueScan By David Hamrick David Hamrick is the son and business partner of VueScan’s creator, Ed Hamrick. VueScan's journey started in quite an interesting way. My dad was trying to digitize our family's old films and slides using an HP PhotoSmart scanner and the standard HP Software, but the results were pretty bad. So he rolled up his sleeves and decided to build a better tool himself, and that's how VueScan was born. Initially, it was all about scanning film and slides. As VueScan started getting some attention, we found that people had a lot of different needs. They wanted us to support more types of scanners and were keen on scanning documents too. So, he expanded. But the real turning point for VueScan was when we realized that our software could support even those scanners that the manufacturers had stopped supporting. We could do this because from the beginning we had been creating drivers from scratch instead of relying on drivers from the manufacturer. This became a game changer. It meant that people could keep using their old scanners, even if the original manufacturers had given up on them. Not only did this make VueScan a cost-effective solution, but it was also great for the environment, preventing perfectly good hardware from ending up in a landfill. And that's the biggest use-case for VueScan today - supporting older scanners. So, from a personal project to a tool that helps a lot of people keep their beloved scanners alive, VueScan has really come a long way. We're very proud that VueScan supports over 7200 scanners today and a wide range of different scanning modes. However, with the plethora of options available in VueScan, it can sometimes be a little intimidating for new users. Recognizing this, we've begun to focus on making scanning smarter and more user-friendly by incorporating AI and Machine Learning into VueScan. But we're just scratching the surface of what's possible. We're overflowing with ideas to make the scanning process even better and easier for our users. We're very excited for the future of VueScan!