I feel that this all could be stated as "the price of high compatibility is inconsistent performance." Which, if I had to rank the two, I'd choose the compat

I feel that this all could be stated as "the price of high compatibility is inconsistent performance." Which, if I had to rank the two, I'd choose the compatibility easily. Users who actually have a need for 40Gbps transfers will either put the effort into getting the correct cabling, or they will quickly learn that lesson. The fact that they have a working option in a pinch is far more valuable then assuring they can't possibly make sub-optimal cabling choices. The article has to go to great lengths to even try to make this point. I mean, sure, if you hack up an unlabeled USB cable into a PSU and then plug it into devices it wasn't intended to be used with you might fry the ports. Is this really a problem a "user" is likely to face?