> Is electricity, say, easy to use because it is all supplied by one centralized world-wide supplier, or is it easy to use because voltage, frequency and so on

> Is electricity, say, easy to use because it is all supplied by one centralized world-wide supplier, or is it easy to use because voltage, frequency and so on are standardized, so you can plug in your appliances no matter who the supplier is? The voltage, frequency and so on only became standardised because of either monopoly providers or government regulation, depending on where you are in the world. There are parts of the world where they've actually ended up with different electrical standards in different parts of the same country as a direct result of having non-centralised suppliers and multiple different electric grids. > But also: Do you think that ease of use for new users is a worthwhile optimization target? I mean, at what cost for non-new users does this optimization come, and is that cost worth it? Yes, and ideally, it's not a cost for non-new users.