For so long, USB 2.0 with a Type-A connector was the standard. You saw Type-B connectors on printer cables, but the other end always had the reassuring Type-A connector.
Then along came USB 3.0, and USB 3.1, which have the same receptacle as 2.0, but aren't necessarily interchangeable. USB 3.x adoption is still lacklustre, so you now have a bunch of devices with different versions, and new systems come with a mixture of 2.0 and 3.0 ports. Why? Isn't 3.0 backwards compatible, and better?
Now we have USB Type-C, which doesn't bear any resemblance to anything which came before.
USB Type-C makes sense because it's smaller, but we already have a mind-boggling array of smaller USB connectors for mobile devices, like USB Mini-A and Mini-B (What's the difference? Did they elope to create Mini-AB?). Then Micro-A and Micro-B, which sound a lot like the Mini variants, but aren't. What the hell is Micro-B SuperSpeed, and why is it actually two ports?
While all this has been going on, three versions of Thunderbolt have emerged. Thunderbolt v1 and v2 inexplicably use a Mini DisplayPort connector. Thunderbolt v3 uses a USB Type-C connector, but isn't the same as USB Type-C. Or is it?
Meanwhile, the general population are still furious that Lightning came along and rendered half their iPod/iPhone/iPad accessories redundant.
I wouldn't mind Apple dropping USB Type-A ports in favor of Type-C for the new MacBook Pro, but I'd like some kind of reassurance that USB Type-C is going to last more than a couple of years...