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Comment by DannyBee | Hacker News Reader

Ah yes, that magic new port that dose something we can't do, but nobody can pinpoint what it is or why we need it.

It's been a decade since a new port (lightning was 2012, usb-c is 2014). So apparently, they are doing pretty well!

I think my answer here would "enjoy the next decade of benefits and worry about it then?"

When this was first proposed in the EU, the connected they wanted to mandate was the "standard" at the time. USB Mini-B. Which is now deprecated and a few generations behind.

And the same arguments were made at the time. "Stifle innovation" and "what innovation, this connector is perfect. No need for improvement."

> When this was first proposed

Well, it's a good thing they UPDATED the bill that eventually became law, right? I guess they could probably do that again, if necessary!

They technically can, but making such update is not like making a correction in google docs, it easyly can take years. And as always in politics there will be some well-established players interested in keeping outdated standard in place.

I like USB-C way more, and frankly don't like Apple that much at all, but let's not pretend lawfare doesn't have collateral damage.

In everything in life, there are trade-offs between different solutions. Personally, I like having just one connector for chargers even if it takes a few extra years to update. I don't think it will, someone else in this thread mentioned the actual connectors aren't in the law but rather a description of a process that the standards org has to perform when updating the approved connector(s) list.

I do like the same thing. That's why I don't buy Apple things for personal use, and it doesn't even feel like a trade-off. I may agree with using blunt and stupidly heavy weapon which is gov't (in this case supragov't) against power of some monopoly. However, charger doesn't look like that case at all. I think it was picked simply because it makes a nice populist move, and not because it has significant impact on a significant number of customers.

I never understood why this law became so important either. what’s so bad of having 2-3 different type of ports? If your senator / deputy has time to spend working on such laws then maybe they need to rethink their career choice.

How long it took to pass it and how long it will take to update it? Meanwhile when a better port comes up, manufacturers will stay away from it because of this limitation.

Evidently very little time.

Well, obviously the EU authorities aren't as ass-backwards as people claim if they switched from mini-USB to USB-C, are they? So why would they be less flexible if USB-SuperNexGen comes out?

EU regulations are constantly updated to follow modern developments. It’s not a frozen thing.

USB-C itself was that "magic" new port 10 years ago. EU at the time was recommending standardization on the abomination that was micro-USB. Luckily they didn’t make alternatives illegal, like now, or you’d never have seen your much beloved USB-C.

Instead of mandating the standard to be used, they should've mandated that phone vendors agree on one standard, with a revision every x years or so.

Luckily, that is exactly what happened! The law explicitly states that it will be reviewed every few years to determine whether USB-C is still the best choice.

And why would a better choice magically appear though when it’s illegal to put it on the market to let it prove itself? Why would anybody who is actually innovative pay to research and risk such a better choice in the first place? To wait for its review in a few years?!

Sounds like you describe how aviation and other critical tech work. Every single piece has to be checked and validated by the administration, and yet planes keep flying.

This is indeed what literally happens in tons of sectors where standards are adopted or mandated by law.

It's insane how entitled tech companies are. They see perfectly normal and useful for the consumer standardization as oppression.

The ideal is two or maybe even three standards. Having one means that upgrading to any new standard would never actually be possible.

Except that’s exactly what Lightning was in the world of (mini, micro, nano) USB2. Try again

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