Constraints are good for creativity. Makes you think outside the box, forces you to focus your efforts. Dunno if it unconditionally applies to engineering, but that seems to have worked so far in every field I went even as much as ankle-deep.

Anyhow: even if there will be some amazing new technology far superseding long-lasting compatibility of solutions like USB, why not mount them in parallel anyway? There's always redundancy and niches with technology. PS/2 keyboards likely aren't going anywhere and those mini-USB headphones or hands-free things have been around for like a decade, but you can still get ones with a jack. Let the market decide, as I'm sure it's one of the directions this discussion will head. Meanwhile, it solves a problem that's a legitimate nuisance to many people. Probably including engineers who'd like to make something that talks to Apple products, but can't because it's incompatible.

Sorry, I'm not trying to be dismissive.

No biggie, but let's take a moment to remind ourselves that the answer to "what can be learned?" isn't learnable things. Like, the technically correct answer is the best kind of being correct, but come on.