I have a Brother that I use just to occasionally scan (flatbed for very rare use) and to color copy - bought cheap and really never used. I do think the software bundle is advantageous, but they make money off people choosing to buy an upgrade for a newer version - if you can give people something for nothing, but get them to pay $30-100 per year to upgrade you are going to make money. I think this is the same reason that McAfee or Norton comes on almost every new computer - long term investment strategy.
I also think Brother has a vested interest in getting you to stay with paper ---- anybody priced toner/ink ? I think it would be unreasonable to make a cheap product that never prints - only goes to desktop, that is how they make money.
