There was nothing wrong with the PS/2 mouse and keyboard plugs either, nor the 25-pin printer plugs, nor some barrel plug for charging phones.
With the exception of the phone charging example, I would agree. The PS/2 protocol is vastly less complex than USB, and parallel ports are so simple they can be used as GPIOs with ultra-low guaranteed latency. Phones migrated to USB because they already needed the bulk data transfer capability along with power, and USB made for a good fit.
You won't be able to charge your phone with your standard barrel plug laptop charger, so you'll still have to carry two adapters when you travel.
The Dart has both USB and a barrel plug, which is the same as many other aftermarket adapters. (They could've made this more obvious in the marketing material, e.g. by showing USB devices plugged into it and not just laptops most of the time.)
I'll choose a laptop with a big robust barrel plug, and one that can be powered from anything outputting 12-24VDC, over one with a USB socket and requiring complex negotiation protocols to even start consuming power. It's the KISS principle. Standards that try to do everything don't tend to do any one thing particularly well, and introduce unnecessary complexity.
With the exception of the phone charging example, I would agree. The PS/2 protocol is vastly less complex than USB, and parallel ports are so simple they can be used as GPIOs with ultra-low guaranteed latency. Phones migrated to USB because they already needed the bulk data transfer capability along with power, and USB made for a good fit.
You won't be able to charge your phone with your standard barrel plug laptop charger, so you'll still have to carry two adapters when you travel.
The Dart has both USB and a barrel plug, which is the same as many other aftermarket adapters. (They could've made this more obvious in the marketing material, e.g. by showing USB devices plugged into it and not just laptops most of the time.)
I'll choose a laptop with a big robust barrel plug, and one that can be powered from anything outputting 12-24VDC, over one with a USB socket and requiring complex negotiation protocols to even start consuming power. It's the KISS principle. Standards that try to do everything don't tend to do any one thing particularly well, and introduce unnecessary complexity.