I have plenty of tales of impatient boomer relatives who have jammed up the micro-USB port on their devices by forcing it in the wrong way. It was a lot harder to do this with mini-USB, and I'm glad the subsequent revision (USB-C) is largely foolproof.
Fair point, but my lived experience of USB-C is that several of my Micro-USB cables dotted around now have little converter heads added. My tablets and battery packs (and other gizmos) still need the Micro-USB port so I can't just replace the cables.
Yes, being able to plug in the connector both ways around is nice, but it wasn't that inconvenient not to be able to do that, especially when put against the inconvenience of needing these extra heads.
I can certainly imagine someone having similar frustrations when Mini-USB gave way to Micro-USB. I can only hope that when USB-D connectors come around, there's more than only small incremental improvements to get me on board.
At least with USB-C, I no longer have to try 3 times before I get the plug the right way round to fit in the device, as happened with Mini- and Micro-USB. Always puzzled me that, given there were only 2 possible orientations to choose from.
But, crucially, they were able to effortlessly move to a better connector when one came along. They were not legally forced to stick with Micro-B. Now they are legally stuck with USB-C indefinitely.
Which years were those? Mini-USB didn't die out quite quickly enough to make room for Micro-USB before USB-C came onto the scene, so I've had to have at least 2 of those 3 for most of the past decade. My entertainment center currently has to deal with all three, and I have to deal with Micro and C just about everywhere else (most things are Micro except my phone which is C). I think this is a bit of a rose colored look back on things.
mini usb is basically extinct in my house. But now I’ve got the same conundrum with micro and usb-c. Oh what I wouldn’t give for one connector to rule them all.
The most important thing the Gen-X'ers did for widespread adoption of technology was making things 'shapes and colours' easy. The rectangle peg goes in the rectangle hole. The red wire goes into the red socket. Any kindergarten graduate could plug their peripherals into their PC with little or no expertise because the only way they could connect was the right way. Before this, everything was DB9 or DB25, and a complete mess of electrical compatibility despite common connectors. Now, we find ourselves in the same position, the same connectors everywhere but inexplicable incompatibility.
That's my hot take: USB-C is just Millennial DB-9.
But again, this is if you think of USB-C as a replacement for Mini-USB and Micro-USB. USB-A remained an uncontested standard for roughly 30 years, and is now gradually being replaced by USB-C.
If USB-C has the same longevity, and can also replace small-form-factor connectors, that's a pretty big win right? It's not too bad to put up with a connector change 2-4 times in your life.
OP is talking about a desktop environment, where mini / micro USB wasn't the problem.
For a mobile device with only a single port, I think making that port USB-C is undeniably the best move. But for a desktop or laptop with four, six, eight ports with different functionalities... That's the point of OP's post.
I had several devices with Micro USB ports. Phones, laptops, tablets, gizmos, portable batteries. All with Micro USB. I purchased too many cables and chargers so whatever room I was in, I would always have a charger.
Then I bought my new phone. It had a USB-C port. Suddenly, I could no longer just plug in the phone to recharge it. I had to have a separate set of cables. I bought a few alternative heads that plugged on the end on the cable but those had a habit of getting lost.
Sure, being able to plug the cable in either way up is nice, but I'd replace it for a Micro USB port in an instant.
I would love USB-C (not micro though!), but the mini USB port is still really common in music gear for whatever reason. My audio interface, DAC for my other PC, midi keyboard, etc all use mini USB. It's really weird.
Mini-B (2000) had serious reliability problems, and would often damage the device rather than the cable. Micro-B (2007) was a pretty smart & necessary response. USB-C (2014) elegantly encompassed the additional high-speed data-connectivity that the hideous huge SuperSpeed USB Micro-B (2008) tacked on, & added significant future-proofing/adaptability (alt-modes).
I have a hard time imagining much advantage beyond USB-C. It's pretty mechanically fit & reliable, it has huge bandwidth (I think DisplayPort alt-modes can do 80Gbps?), it can transmit 240W in Extended Power Range variants. Someday perhaps. But I also think this might be here to stay for a long long time.
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