>>I'm surprised that the printers aren't all like the EcoTank printers
>>that Epson is selling now where you just refill the tanks on the side
>>of the printer with fresh ink when needed.
>
>That's an option, although in the 25th century, most consumers don't
>really want to fool around with refilling tanks and all that
>rigmarole.

Speaking as someone with an EcoTank printer: The only increase in rigmarole is that you have to wait for the bottle to empty/tank to fill¹. In exchange you only handle one thing during a refill, (as there is no expended cartridge to dispose of).

The size of the tanks also means you don't have to refill them as often as you would have to change cartridges.

1: The bottles and tank have integrated valves so that you just plug in the bottle and wait, no pouring or anything and it stops when the tank is full. They are also keyed by colour so that you can't plug the wrong one in without intentionally taking a knife or something to the bottle.