7 ms·

Why the whataboutism? Just cheer the progress.

mlindner 4y ago
Mandating standards by laws isn't progress. It holds the future back. This and the EU will be looked back on as a disastrous piece of legislation in the future. It's amazing how nearsighted these governments are being. Standards are universally created by industry organically, not created by governments.
- nicoco 4y ago
  I guess you're a believer in this "invisible hand" cult.
  - mlindner 4y ago
    The "invisible hand" as used in the context of economcis is not a "cult". It's a widely accepted basic metaphor in economics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_hand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_hand The only disagreement is in how much of an effect it has.
    - nicoco 4y ago
      I suggest you take a look the "Criticisms" section of the article you just linked.
- crote 4y ago
  The EU law explicitly includes a provision that it must be reviewed every few years to keep up with industry progress. It previously mandated Micro USB, and now it mandates USB-C. It's not a law which says "the industry must use connector X", but a law which says "the industry must standardize on a single connector" - which is exactly what you seem to be asking for.
  - mlindner 4y ago
    "Industry progress" doesn't happen if companies are banned from selling new devices with new standards.
    - crote 4y ago
      Selling devices with both connectors is allowed. Besides that, there are plenty of industry standards developed well before the first devices come on the market. PCIe 6 was finished before the first PCIe 5 product even hit the shelves, DDR5 was done two years before the first CPU used it, and I bet someone is working on a USB 5 already.
      - mlindner 4y ago
        > Selling devices with both connectors is allowed. Unless by doing so you harm the competitiveness of the device. Additionally if a device still has USB-C no one's going to design peripherals for a device and artificially limit their market if they don't have to. This makes moving to new standards difficult or impossible.
  - foepys 4y ago
    It never mandated Micro USB, that's why they are stepping it up because the recommendation to use Micro USB didn't catch on.
- gherkinnn 4y ago
  This organic standard has failed completely. I have to serve five different charging ports (Magsafe, Lightning, USB C, micro USB, and some proprietary thing for my watch). The watch charger only comes with an USB A cable, so now either I need an extra dongle or two charging bricks. USB C was introduced in 2014 and really came about in 2016. These companies had six+ years to converge on something reasonable. But they didn't. Be it out of greed or plain laziness. So yes, this law is an improvement.
  - mlindner 4y ago
    Standards take time for them to filter through the industry. It only looks good in context of today. Imagine looking back on today from 10 years in the future with us being stuck on the legacy USB-C standard because of a variety of disparate legislation all over the world holding the new standard back. Or that the standard that could have happened, never does. We can never know what future we could have had if not for actions in the past.
- themitigating 4y ago
  You don't get how it works here. We are libertarians except for regulating social media, bitcoin, right to repair, usb standards, etc.

Mandating standards by laws isn't progress. It holds the future back. This and the EU will be looked back on as a disastrous piece of legislation in the future. It's amazing how nearsighted these governments are being. Standards are universally created by industry organically, not created by governments.

nicoco 4y ago
I guess you're a believer in this "invisible hand" cult.
- mlindner 4y ago
  The "invisible hand" as used in the context of economcis is not a "cult". It's a widely accepted basic metaphor in economics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_hand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_hand The only disagreement is in how much of an effect it has.
  - nicoco 4y ago
    I suggest you take a look the "Criticisms" section of the article you just linked.
crote 4y ago
The EU law explicitly includes a provision that it must be reviewed every few years to keep up with industry progress. It previously mandated Micro USB, and now it mandates USB-C. It's not a law which says "the industry must use connector X", but a law which says "the industry must standardize on a single connector" - which is exactly what you seem to be asking for.
- mlindner 4y ago
  "Industry progress" doesn't happen if companies are banned from selling new devices with new standards.
  - crote 4y ago
    Selling devices with both connectors is allowed. Besides that, there are plenty of industry standards developed well before the first devices come on the market. PCIe 6 was finished before the first PCIe 5 product even hit the shelves, DDR5 was done two years before the first CPU used it, and I bet someone is working on a USB 5 already.
    - mlindner 4y ago
      > Selling devices with both connectors is allowed. Unless by doing so you harm the competitiveness of the device. Additionally if a device still has USB-C no one's going to design peripherals for a device and artificially limit their market if they don't have to. This makes moving to new standards difficult or impossible.
- foepys 4y ago
  It never mandated Micro USB, that's why they are stepping it up because the recommendation to use Micro USB didn't catch on.
gherkinnn 4y ago
This organic standard has failed completely. I have to serve five different charging ports (Magsafe, Lightning, USB C, micro USB, and some proprietary thing for my watch). The watch charger only comes with an USB A cable, so now either I need an extra dongle or two charging bricks. USB C was introduced in 2014 and really came about in 2016. These companies had six+ years to converge on something reasonable. But they didn't. Be it out of greed or plain laziness. So yes, this law is an improvement.
- mlindner 4y ago
  Standards take time for them to filter through the industry. It only looks good in context of today. Imagine looking back on today from 10 years in the future with us being stuck on the legacy USB-C standard because of a variety of disparate legislation all over the world holding the new standard back. Or that the standard that could have happened, never does. We can never know what future we could have had if not for actions in the past.
themitigating 4y ago
You don't get how it works here. We are libertarians except for regulating social media, bitcoin, right to repair, usb standards, etc.