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Yeah, I was going to say the same, just not as creatively.

USB is not the poster child for successful industry-led standards.



What’s an alternative system that’s better?

Apple’s Lightning has some of the worst connectors ever. I have about 5 USB-C cables and about 10 Lightning cables in my home. Each Lightning cable cost me more than 2x rhe most expensive USB-C cable bought from a convenience store and yet 4/5 of the Lightning cables have their wiring inside exposed while the USB-C ones could pass off as new.

The only issue I’ve ever had with a device on the USB-C side is 1 cable that is incapable of charging my wife’s macbook.

Guess how many of my Apple made Lightning cables are capable of charging my wife’s MacBook.


> USB is not the poster child for successful industry-led standards.

Every day billions of devices use USB for charging and data transfer and work just fine.. was there some government intervention that jumped in to make that work that I am unfamiliar with?

However the sausage was made.. and is still being made... may be imperfect and ugly but USB seems pretty darn successful!

Bluetooth too!


Not to be that guy, but there was the intervention of the EU to force phone makers to use USB...


No, you be that guy. As many gripes as I have with USB, the EU forcing all phone manufacturers to use a common charging standard was huge. This is the kind of thing where government action really can improve on a Nash equilibrium.


Right, but that is entirely unrelated to USB working -- the regulation exists long after USB had proven itself.. because it had proven itself.




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