Yes, the interfaces to external devices were simple, for some definition of simple. Don't forget that we had ports dedicated to keyboards, mice, joysticks, video, printers - all that takes physical space and all those connectors were slightly different and had slightly different orientations. Yeah, simpler.
Compare that to USB-C. One port that I can connect anything to, including power (which I didn't even mention above). To make things even simpler, again for some definition of "simple", it doesn't even matter which way I orient the connector. I can just insert it into the port without thinking about it. This is simpler for the user, but definitely harder to engineer.
Do I want to go back to the old days? No. My main machine when I got started was a C-64 but I also had access to a lab full of Apple II machines, a lab full of TRS-80 machines, and many friends having an Atari 800. They were definitely less complicated than the machines we have today. They were also far less capable, had proprietary interfaces necessitating proprietary hardware, and not at all portable.
We have the equivalent of a supercomputer in our pocket allowing us to communicate with anyone in the world at any time. Even sci-fi never envisioned that! I wouldn't call it a dubious gain.
Compare that to USB-C. One port that I can connect anything to, including power (which I didn't even mention above). To make things even simpler, again for some definition of "simple", it doesn't even matter which way I orient the connector. I can just insert it into the port without thinking about it. This is simpler for the user, but definitely harder to engineer.
Do I want to go back to the old days? No. My main machine when I got started was a C-64 but I also had access to a lab full of Apple II machines, a lab full of TRS-80 machines, and many friends having an Atari 800. They were definitely less complicated than the machines we have today. They were also far less capable, had proprietary interfaces necessitating proprietary hardware, and not at all portable.
We have the equivalent of a supercomputer in our pocket allowing us to communicate with anyone in the world at any time. Even sci-fi never envisioned that! I wouldn't call it a dubious gain.