I would like add another angle to this drivers debate - the need for good diagnostic tools for the hardware. Case in point being my hp 3325.
Ubuntu configured it perfectly, even to the point of using it in strictly gray scale (no color at all) mode - something I couldn't figure out to do in win32. But a few days back, it developed problems in moving the cartridges and ultimately broke the belt that moved the cartridge cradle to and fro. The neighborhood computer guy replaced the belt but the problem persisted - the cradle simply wasn't moving. He guessed that maybe the color cartridge was the culprit (given my penchant for b/w prints) and asked me to boot into win32... viola! There was a window saying the cradle was being obstructed! He immediately removed the color cartridge and all went to normal.
Could this (the pop-ups that are generated by the HP Printer Assistant) have been possibly developed in Linux also? Or is it proprietary?