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Andrew

@alyx @EUCommission i really don't understand this take, like, for sure scrapping apple's weird nonstandard cables will really in some waste, but how is that anyone's fault but apple's?

19 September at 12:25 | Wall-to-wall | Open on mathstodon.xyz
7 comments
Alyx

@andrewt IIRC when they switched away from their 30 pins cable the standard was mini or micro USB which was really shitty. Lightning was ahead of its time, and they had no reason to scrap it until USB-C came around and was not so bad. My personal opinion is that lightning is a better experience, you don’t have to look where to plug the cable thanks to the rounded edges, and it clicks nicely. But USB-C is good enough.
So I don’t think it’s Apple fault. If they had switched to every USB standard they would have ended with much more port than just the 30 pins and lightning. Sure though if the standard was open, maybe everyone would had aligned on it, I agree with this.
I think it would have been better if both USB-C and Lightning could have lived together longer for a smoother transition.
But again like I said to now like 5 people, we are aligned: we don’t like e-waste. Let’s not fight. I just don’t agree that it’s reducing e-waste.

@andrewt IIRC when they switched away from their 30 pins cable the standard was mini or micro USB which was really shitty. Lightning was ahead of its time, and they had no reason to scrap it until USB-C came around and was not so bad. My personal opinion is that lightning is a better experience, you don’t have to look where to plug the cable thanks to the rounded edges, and it clicks nicely. But USB-C is good enough.
So I don’t think it’s Apple fault. If they had switched to every USB standard they...

19 September at 12:33 | Open on eldritch.cafe
Andrew

@alyx i guess i just think that the reason lightning was introduced was not "the existing standard usb ports just aren't up to the job" so much as "usb-c will be out in a couple of years and if we're still using the dock connector by then, people are going to want us to switch. better invent a new connector *now* that's just arguably better than usb-c and then we can keep our monopoly on iphone-compatible accessories and pretend like we didn't have a choice". it's cynical, sure, but like, this is the company that disabled progressive web apps altogether rather than support using them with any other browser than safari, this is exactly the kind of thing they would do. they don't give a shit about e-waste or security or whatever, those are just the nice reasons they tell you when asked why they've done something that's obviously anti-competitive

@alyx i guess i just think that the reason lightning was introduced was not "the existing standard usb ports just aren't up to the job" so much as "usb-c will be out in a couple of years and if we're still using the dock connector by then, people are going to want us to switch. better invent a new connector *now* that's just arguably better than usb-c and then we can keep our monopoly on iphone-compatible accessories and pretend like we didn't have a choice". it's cynical, sure, but like, this is...

19 September at 16:55 | Open on mathstodon.xyz
Alyx

@andrewt USB-C was not even designed when they release their lightning connector though. Wikipedia says that the design of USB-C started in 2012 and Lightning was introduced on September 2012.
They knew they had to switch, nothing was available, so they made their own. Agreed though that it’s not their kind to give away their design and open it to the world.

19 September at 18:07 | Open on eldritch.cafe
Andrew

@alyx I mean apple definitely knew something was on the horizon, though, right? They're in there usb forum and these bodies never do anything fast

And anyway, what do you mean "nothing was available"? Every other smartphone on the market was using micro-usb, and it was working just great. For sure, lightning's physical connector is nicer than micro-usb, but nice enough to warrant 12 years of having two competing form factors for basically the same thing? Nah

19 September at 18:54 | Open on mathstodon.xyz
Alyx

@andrewt Yeah probably, and it make sense they did not wanted to wait for them either.

Nothing good enough was available, yes. Micro USB was garbage, it’s night and day with lightning.

Anyway let’s leave the conversation here, I don’t really see the point, and I can feel the tone is not shifting to a pleasant conversation.

Have a nice day, or night.

19 September at 19:07 | Open on eldritch.cafe
Andrew

@alyx just to check, what do you mean by "garbage"? my understanding is that on a technical level the two connectors were more or less equivalent, pretty much just usb2 with a different connector? And, like, I can go on holiday with my switch, my laptop, both of their controllers, an iPad and my phone and take literally one charger and honestly Nintendo could release a switch charger that literally gives me an orgasm every time I plug it in and I think I'd still rather just have the one same charger for everything

20 September at 0:03 | Open on mathstodon.xyz
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