This is rather ridiculous. OS X has been out for a number of years, yet this problem hasn't been fixed. I'm not surprised that the printer companies and Apple are pointing the finger at each other. I think that the true reason probably lies in HP not properly using the printing technologies that are available in OS X, instead relying on old OS 9 code. Apple could probably fix the problem if they wanted to, but would rather HP be the one to spend the extra money. The strange thing is that some HP printers work fine, like a friend's 5650. I don't really want to buy another printer, though, since I only recently bought the 6120.
I don't really know what do do, but this is just another reason that I've become more and more disillusioned with Apple. I don't want to turn this into another rant (I already have enough of those), but we pay a premium for Apple products, and the reason I do it is because I'm used to things that JUST WORK. No messing around or wasted time or long phone calls with tech support. And things used to be exactly like this. My old PowerMac 6400 was a great, fast, reliable machine. Never had a single problem with it. Why can't things be like this again in the Apple world? Isn't it pathetic that I can't even print? That is one of the most basic tasks that makes a computer useful, and my Mac can't do it. I have to print all of my documents from a PC (with the same printer, by the way). I'm thinking more of switching all the way over to Windows every week.
I will see what happens with 10.3.3, but each time an OS update is released, I try to print again, and so far I've been disappointed. I don't really expect any change now.