4 ms·

I have a fantasy where everyone who worked on recent USB standards must personally provide tech support when there's a problem.

jrockway 4y ago
They probably do. It's an industry-driven standard; they added all that stuff exactly because they intended to sell it to consumers.
- taneq 4y ago
  “We could sell this feature to consumers even though it would confuse them”? That’s not what tech support would do.
- ajmurmann 4y ago
  But the people who worked on the standard directly aren't doing the tech support
  - eru 4y ago
    How is that different from any other technical standard or product design?
    - denkmoon 4y ago
      It behooves one to read the conversation before replying. The implication is this: perhaps if the people who wrote the spec personally had to offer tech support for the spec they wrote, they might have an incentive to write less insane specs.
      - eru 4y ago
        I get that. But spec writers never have to do that, yet there are many other specs that are presumably less insane. So it's unlikely that not-requiring tech support is a causal factor in USB's supposed insanity.
        swores 4y ago
        Reading the thread would also explain that you're discussing somebody's 'fantasy', not expectation or belief of causality.
        MichaelZuo 4y ago
        This is classic HN stuff, I find it actually valuable to see an explicit enumeration of all possible interpretations of some statement, also somewhat humorous.
        eru 4y ago
        To be honest, I wanted to essentially say that it's a thoroughly stupid fantasy. But in more polite terms.
lostlogin 4y ago
I’d pay to watch them connect up a monitor, then try fix the issue when it mysteriously stops working. Then have the replacement also fail. Then find another that works but looks identical.
leokennis 4y ago
Support guy: "M'am, can you tell me what is on the plug of your hub? Is it a sort of pitch fork with three numbers, or is it more like a pitch fork with a lightning bolt and two numbers?" Customer: "Son, I'm 75, I don't see so well anymore!" Support guy: "Well, unless we can find out if you have a USB 3.1 Gen 2b compliant with Power Delivery 20W hub or a USB 3.2 Gen 1 DP+ SuperSpeed 10GB hub, we won't know what alternate modes your cable must support in able to connect that mouse to your laptop m'am"

jrockway 4y ago

They probably do. It's an industry-driven standard; they added all that stuff exactly because they intended to sell it to consumers.

taneq 4y ago
“We could sell this feature to consumers even though it would confuse them”? That’s not what tech support would do.
ajmurmann 4y ago
But the people who worked on the standard directly aren't doing the tech support
- eru 4y ago
  How is that different from any other technical standard or product design?
  - denkmoon 4y ago
    It behooves one to read the conversation before replying. The implication is this: perhaps if the people who wrote the spec personally had to offer tech support for the spec they wrote, they might have an incentive to write less insane specs.
    - eru 4y ago
      I get that. But spec writers never have to do that, yet there are many other specs that are presumably less insane. So it's unlikely that not-requiring tech support is a causal factor in USB's supposed insanity.
      - swores 4y ago
        Reading the thread would also explain that you're discussing somebody's 'fantasy', not expectation or belief of causality.
        MichaelZuo 4y ago
        This is classic HN stuff, I find it actually valuable to see an explicit enumeration of all possible interpretations of some statement, also somewhat humorous.
        eru 4y ago
        To be honest, I wanted to essentially say that it's a thoroughly stupid fantasy. But in more polite terms.

lostlogin 4y ago

I’d pay to watch them connect up a monitor, then try fix the issue when it mysteriously stops working. Then have the replacement also fail. Then find another that works but looks identical.

leokennis 4y ago

Support guy: "M'am, can you tell me what is on the plug of your hub? Is it a sort of pitch fork with three numbers, or is it more like a pitch fork with a lightning bolt and two numbers?" Customer: "Son, I'm 75, I don't see so well anymore!" Support guy: "Well, unless we can find out if you have a USB 3.1 Gen 2b compliant with Power Delivery 20W hub or a USB 3.2 Gen 1 DP+ SuperSpeed 10GB hub, we won't know what alternate modes your cable must support in able to connect that mouse to your laptop m'am"