Comment by duped
2 years ago
Why stop a labeling? You could design the connectors to only terminate at another connector that supports the same features, preventing anyone from confusing one cable for another.
And the reason we don't do that is because it would expose the lie that there can be a universal data and power connector for all devices, and rather than live in a world where everything can connect perfectly fine with the right cables, we have chosen to live in one where the market can be flooded with garbage cables that don't work for your devices. And rather than blame the device manufacturer for choosing a shoddy cable, or the government for forcing them to, we can happily blame the cable manufacturer instead.
If you just slap a label on it, it's not going to fix the problem. No one is going to read them, and people are going to lie.
I think you’re letting perfect be the enemy of good here.
I understand its a bit of a hot take but I just fundamentally disagree with the premise that we should be using one connector for such a wide range of devices. It's a recipe for garbage.
Considering most people that encounter USB cables these days is for the purposes of charging some device, and a smaller minority will actually care about optimizing the charging speed, the universal connector solves a lot of the important usability problems even if it creates other kind of problems. Engineering is about trade offs and while separate connectors might make you personally happy, it would probably result in more expensive devices and cables that have even worse interop (the more generic the hw can be, the cheaper it is at scale).
I think the logos would be helpful but I doubt anything will happen in that direction because the benefit is likely marginal.
> it would expose the lie that there can be a universal data and power connector for all devices
It was never promised for ALL devices. Obviously, there are high power applications where type-C connector would melt no matter what you do.
But it's quite obvious that USB-C cables with 40Gbps and 100W power delivery exist. And it's good enough for most devices. At least for now.
I even see 40Gbps cables with 240W PD.
> And the reason we don't do that is because it would expose the lie that there can be a universal data and power connector for all devices
And yet, such a connector and cable does exist!
> everything can connect perfectly fine with the right cables
Right, because carrying 3 different cables to give a presentation, which I wont be able to if I forget one of them, or it gets too bent in my backpack is indeed "perfectly fine". As opposed to carrying just 1 USB-C cable (which as a bonus I can use to charge my Android phone in case the battery unexpectedly starts running out before the end of the day) and even if it gets damaged or broken, odds are increasingly that there will be several other people who will also have that cable.
> rather than blame the device manufacturer for choosing a shoddy cable, or the government for forcing them to, we can happily blame the cable manufacturer instead
And we can't do that with universal cables because?