4 ms·

For anyone saying "we shouldn't force companies on a specific connector": This legislation started over 10 years ago. Back then Apple said "we need a bit of tim

by sgift 5y ago

For anyone saying "we shouldn't force companies on a specific connector": This legislation started over 10 years ago. Back then Apple said "we need a bit of time to figure out a good way forward. Could you please give it?" and then EU said "Yeah, okay. We trust you will use it wisely." 10 years fast forward: Nothing happened. Maybe this is a good lesson for industries to not try to play games with legislators if you cannot live with the consequences.

e-clinton 5y ago
Had it been successful 10 years ago, what connector would we have today? Mini USB?
- drewzero1 5y ago
  Micro USB was pretty well established 10 years ago. USB 3.0 micro B was just out (2010) and probably would have been a strong contender, since the socket could also accept a USB2 micro B plug.
  - drcongo 5y ago
    Yeah, but it was still an absolute bag of crap, utterly horrible to use in every conceivable way.
    - hulitu 5y ago
      To be honest so is USB-C. When the connector is not designed for hundreds of matings it will fail sooner than expected. USB-A connector was designed for 12 matings. For USB-C i could not find anything on DDG.
      - drcongo 5y ago
        I agree, I'm not a huge fan of USB-C either. I used to have the butterfly keyboard MBP that everyone rightly hated and the USB-C sockets, within a month, were all loose enough for the cables to just fall out regularly. Never had that problem with Lightning.
      - smiley1437 5y ago
        USB-C is rated for 10,000 insertion cycles
xupybd 5y ago
Apple may have played games and not kept their word but that's not a good argument against."we shouldn't force companies on a specific connector" Removing and patents around proprietary connectors would make sense. Forcing companies to publish the specifications of their connectors might help. Picking the most popular and locking it in for who knows how long, not such a good idea..
- otabdeveloper4 5y ago
  > not such a good idea Why not? Would you like it if every brand of electrical appliance came with its own proprietary type of wall plug?
- ryathal 5y ago
  Standardization is a good thing whether it's an electrical socket, car charger, phone charger, fuel pump nozzle, audio jacks, video jacks, garden hose, or any interface really. The fact Apple has gotten away with this for so long is impressive. There would be an Unholy shitstorm rained upon Sony if they made their TVs and Play stations have proprietary connectors that required additional adapters to use with non-Sony products

by sgift 5y ago

e-clinton 5y ago

Had it been successful 10 years ago, what connector would we have today? Mini USB?

drewzero1 5y ago
Micro USB was pretty well established 10 years ago. USB 3.0 micro B was just out (2010) and probably would have been a strong contender, since the socket could also accept a USB2 micro B plug.
- drcongo 5y ago
  Yeah, but it was still an absolute bag of crap, utterly horrible to use in every conceivable way.
  - hulitu 5y ago
    To be honest so is USB-C. When the connector is not designed for hundreds of matings it will fail sooner than expected. USB-A connector was designed for 12 matings. For USB-C i could not find anything on DDG.
    - drcongo 5y ago
      I agree, I'm not a huge fan of USB-C either. I used to have the butterfly keyboard MBP that everyone rightly hated and the USB-C sockets, within a month, were all loose enough for the cables to just fall out regularly. Never had that problem with Lightning.
    - smiley1437 5y ago
      USB-C is rated for 10,000 insertion cycles

xupybd 5y ago

Apple may have played games and not kept their word but that's not a good argument against."we shouldn't force companies on a specific connector" Removing and patents around proprietary connectors would make sense. Forcing companies to publish the specifications of their connectors might help. Picking the most popular and locking it in for who knows how long, not such a good idea..

otabdeveloper4 5y ago
> not such a good idea Why not? Would you like it if every brand of electrical appliance came with its own proprietary type of wall plug?
ryathal 5y ago
Standardization is a good thing whether it's an electrical socket, car charger, phone charger, fuel pump nozzle, audio jacks, video jacks, garden hose, or any interface really. The fact Apple has gotten away with this for so long is impressive. There would be an Unholy shitstorm rained upon Sony if they made their TVs and Play stations have proprietary connectors that required additional adapters to use with non-Sony products