Good news on this, I think. It looks like the list of supported printers is actually much larger (but not sure, because this link is not in English, I've not tried to translate it, and even if I had, not certain this all applies to the new Windows feature). See the Mopria list of supported printers with their standard here:
Mopria has more than 120 million certified printers, multi-functions printers and scanners from major brands. Search by Manufacturer or Model Name
mopria.org
And here's an English FAQ on the Mopria side of things (again, this may not be exactly what Windows is incorporating, but if it is, that would be a good thing for many of us):
Windows supports Mopria print technology making printing seamless to more than 120 million Mopria certified printers.
mopria.org
Where presumably the ability to ALSO still install native drivers is what the Windows update will block over the straight Mopria solution.
Their list of printers includes all the printers we use, many of which are many years old.
I think the main requirement is that it be a network printer, not a USB printer. This makes sense from a security perspective: the printer driver malware hacks primarily relate to network printers at enterprises, while USB printers are pretty much limited to home use. Unless Windows is only working with a subset of the Mopria-supported printers (which is entirely possible), then it looks like all the mainstream network printers are already supported.
And for those of you using USB printers, many of them also support a Wi-Fi connection, which would make it a network printer. So, to take advantage of this significant security improvement, it could be as simple as shifting to the network/Wi-Fi connection in place of the USB cable.
If Windows is limited to a subset of the Mopria-supported printers to start, maybe that's just a temporary limitation. If the goal is improved security (as opposed to helping printer manufacturers sell new printers, and I believe MS is much more focused on security than helping companies sell printers), it would seem MS would want to be sure this works with as many printers as possible. With enterprise being notoriously slow to phase out old printers, this seems it must be at least a component of a long-term plan.
20-year old HP and Xerox printers are common and blocking viruses and malware is like public vaccinations: you need to protect the majority so there can't be enough infected systems to significantly spread the virus or to be attractive to malware creators looking to make a name for themselves or a buck. If those old printers don't get the security boost, this whole effort would add minimal value.
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