Hardware drivers for all Linux

Hallo All,

I want your opinion:

HP is a worldwide company with a lot of power in development. I am using openSUSE 11.2 on my m9090 desktop. So I am a user (not a dummy). During installation I found out the following:

I have a Scanjet G4050, a very nice scanner -> but not supported under Linux. Most support comes from the SANE project, which is Linux independent. But since this scanner is on the market, it is unsupported by this project.
With printers it starts to be better now with the development of the HPLib. But what is neccessary for HP: To support all HP-products for Linux. This must be the goal for a company like HP.
So let's go back to the scanner: The hardware is up-to-date, there are drivers for Windows 7 and Vista, but non for Linux -> what a shame! If I had the time to do something, I would like to ask the SANE project to implement our drivers. A lot of possibilities exists. HP has the force to improve such development.

I will be a little bit provocative: Epson, Canon and also NVidia are providing some drivers or giving support for developers.

Why it is so complicated to give support for Linux, when it still exists for Apple computer, which has basically a Linux kernel?

Kind regards

Andreas Klafft