[SocratesV]

Late 2008 Aluminum 13'' Macbook here. Going to upgrade.

Can't really understand all the fuss. It's Apple. Making this polemic decisions has been their bread & butter for a long time, always dropping standards that have peaked for new ones. Causes a pain in the short term, yes, but it's certainly not something new.

[Yetanfou]

Well, the thing is they're getting 'better' and 'better' at dropping standards. They drop things which still see a lot of use, for which there are no viable alternatives which perform at least as well as the current standard. It is almost as if they're trying for some form of abstract 'perfection' as defined by the dictum that 'Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away'. While nice in theory, in practice people buy computers to perform mundane tasks with 'imperfect' hardware with odd interfaces like HDMI, SD or analogue audio. This might go against the purist's dream of a perfect world but it is the one we're living in, warts and all. If you want to buy a computer as a personal statement you may be willing to live with the restrictions such 'perfection' brings with it, but those who want to upload their photos are left out in the cold. Yes, they can use an adapter or some sort of dongle but surely that is even less 'perfect'?

[grzm]

You bring up some interesting points. I think we all agree we want to be able to make progress on connectors. The question is how we do so.

- Before something is widely adopted, how do we decide which connectors to use on future products?

- How do we transition from one to another?

Some thoughts that came to mind when reading your comment: What did people do before computers had HDMI ports? SD slots? How about audio systems that have 1/4" plugs (not 3.5mm)?