USB

The Never-Ending Quest for the One True Standard: A USB Saga

In the Beginning, There Was Chaos

Once upon a time, humanity was burdened by anarchy. Every manufacturer had their own charger, cable, and port, ensuring that no one could ever borrow a friend’s charger without first sacrificing a goat to the technology gods. Then, in a moment of divine inspiration (or corporate necessity), the Universal Serial Bus (USB) was born. The name itself promised a utopia: one standard to rule them all, to unify a divided world, and to rid us of the tangled horrors of proprietary connectors.

It was a beautiful dream—until reality set in...

The Rise of the Standards

The first USB standard, USB 1.0, was an ambitious attempt at order. It was slow, clunky, and about as exciting as dial-up internet, but it was a start. Then came USB 2.0, which improved speeds but ensured backwards compatibility, because even in a dystopia, we still needed to print out documents in 2003.

USB 3.0 arrived, bringing faster speeds and a brand-new connector color to confuse consumers. Then, the chaos multiplied: USB 3.1, USB 3.2, USB 3.2 Gen 2, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (because why stop at one "Gen 2" when you can have two?), and finally, USB4—a name chosen to trick people into believing the nightmare was over.

A Wild Type-C Appears!

But the greatest plot twist of all was the birth of USB Type-C, the supposed holy grail of connectivity. It was reversible, fast, and supported everything from data to video output to charging. It was perfect… until it wasn’t.

Because nothing in the tech world can be truly universal, manufacturers quickly turned USB-C into a battlefield. Some cables supported charging but not data. Some supported data but not video. Some looked identical but worked at different speeds. And then there was Thunderbolt, which looked exactly like USB-C but wasn’t always USB-C.

Oh, and don’t forget USB-C to USB-A, USB-C to micro-USB, USB-C to DisplayPort, USB-C to HDMI, USB-C to Ethernet, USB-C to "your hopes and dreams crushed under the weight of unnecessary complexity."

The XKCD Prophecy Fulfilled

As the legendary XKCD comic foretold, in an attempt to unify all the competing standards, the industry simply created another standard—adding to the mess rather than solving it.

Currently, we have USB 2.0, USB 3.0, USB 3.1 Gen 1, USB 3.1 Gen 2, USB 3.2 Gen 1, USB 3.2 Gen 2, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, USB4, USB4 2.0, and a partridge in a pear tree. Meanwhile, Apple still refuses to commit and dangles Lightning cables in front of us like a forbidden fruit.

The Future of Standards: More Standards!

So what’s next? USB5? USB6? Perhaps a bold new initiative where every device comes with a single, proprietary charger again, just to keep things interesting?

One thing is certain: the moment we finally get a truly universal standard, someone, somewhere, will decide it's time for something new. Because if there’s one standard that always holds true, it’s that there will never be just one standard.

And so, the cycle continues.