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. 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.Sorry, I'm not trying to be dismissive.
I agree that this is a legitimate nuisance, but do not feel that this is the correct way to address it. Mounting them in parallel might not be a very good option from an economic or engineering perspective for a new device. I am very far from a libertarian. I believe there is both good and necessary regulation, and that civil society depends upon it and can be improved by it. However, I also believe that regulation comes with a cost, often unknowable at the time of implementation, and that the nuisance just does not make the cost worth it.
And I think that a concern based on a second-order 'maybe' is perhaps a touch too little of a cost when considering ease of use, universality, and safety benefits. Agree to disagree? And why couldn't that new tech be, dunno, 2mm bigger? We had a thread recently about "build time-cost-capability -- pick two" and this seems exactly that: sacrifice something to showcase new solution. Do that whole early adopter thing. USB too needed a while to lift off. I'm from 98, born to tech-savvy parents, and I still remember using those PS2 mice with a rubber ball inside up into high school, christ. It takes time for a design to be built, tested, distributed, adopted etc. Knowing specs in advance is a plus, IMO. Bit tongue-in-cheek, though I'm sure it's a possibility knowing lawyers I know: someone is probably already thinking of going around the issue by making up some reason why the product isn't actually a smartphone, thus not being required to have USB-C.Mounting them in parallel might not be a very good option from an economic or engineering perspective for a new device.