I'm not aware of any way a cable can damage a device unless it's incorrectly assembled, which almost any cable could do.

Most devices are backwards compatible and will run at USB2.0 speeds. Almost any cable will work, just slowly. That's a pretty big advantage.

Since I don't have much of anything that uses the 3.0 speeds, having everything on one connector is worth it, it's a great charging port, it's great for 2.0 speeds, and you can do 3.0 if needed with some effort.

When monitors hopefully switch over there could be some confusion though. I would imagine they'll need to actually start using the cable marking spec, and things will get a lot easier.