[makeitdouble]

> I challenge the author to go find a wired keyboard or mouse that comes with a USB C plug..

I can confirm, it's a journey. It's the same kind of journey than finding a hair trimmer that charges on USB C.

I see it more as makers being complacent and not giving a fuck though. There's no technical reasons for those to be USB A, and the USB C ones work great.

So yes USB A will be there for a while, and more often than not it's a symbolic middle finger to the buyer, a signal that a product should probably be avoided.

[cesarb]

> There's no technical reasons for those to be USB A, and the USB C ones work great.

There's a good technical reason for keyboards and mice to still be USB A: adapters from USB A socket to USB C plug are allowed by the standard, but adapters from USB C socket to USB A plug are forbidden (because they would, together with a common USB C cable, allow creating the forbidden USB A to USB A cable). This means that USB A keyboards and mice can be used in both USB A ports and (with a simple passive adapter) USB C ports, while USB C keyboards and mice could be used only on USB C ports.

Therefore, until having enough free USB C ports in computers is common enough, using USB A ports (with an optional adapter to USB C on the box) on the keyboard or mouse makes sense. This is similar to how, during the transition from serial and PS/2 mice to USB mice, it was common for them to come with a adapter which allowed them to be used either on a USB port or (with the adapter) on a PS/2 port.

[eurleif]

>because they would, together with a common USB C cable, allow creating the forbidden USB A to USB A cable

Not hard to do this regardless. Amazon sells A-to-A cables[0]; and Unicomp keyboards for example have a USB-A port in the back, and connect to PCs with a bundled A-to-A cable. Seems like preventing this is a lost cause.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-1-5ft-24AWG-Cable-Plated/dp...

[hughesjj]

I have more USB switches and kvms that do a-a instead of a-b than I care to admit

[silon42]

Yeah, USB switch for keyboard/mouse is the reason I expect to be using USB-A (or the "illegal" adapter) for few decades more.

[kalleboo]

On keyboard it's easy enough to just put a USB-C port on the keyboard and let users either use an A-C or C-C cable.

For mice, having a hardwired cable probably still makes sense in terms of bulk and strain relief, but I suspect that wireless mice are also far more common.

[TheRealPomax]

looks at his MIDI controller that comes with a USB-C female to USB-A male converter plug

You don't say...

[MadnessASAP]

Mmmmm forbidden cable....

[tazard]

A C-to-A adapter came with my laptop dock, but I have never thought of this

[clnq]

> USB A will be there for a while, and more often than not it's a symbolic middle finger to the buyer, a signal that a product should probably be avoided.

You have exceptionally strong opinions about USB A and C.

[makeitdouble]

Micro USB is the real bane of it, but the time I spent to find USB-C versions of so many devices, including mices, made the issue a lot more personal I think.

I kinda hate that we're stuck in dongle town for so long now. And going wireless brings in the charging issues. Computer makers are also to blame, but I think that ship has sailed.

[dec0dedab0de]

So yes USB A will be there for a while, and more often than not it's a symbolic middle finger to the buyer, a signal that a product should probably be avoided.

maybe it’s the opposite, it’s a warm hug reassuring you that they’re not going to change things just because some of the cool kids are.

[dylan604]

> There's no technical reasons for those to be USB A, and the USB C ones work great

Except that all of their plans already have USB A in them. They'd have to rework the plans. Then, rework the lines making them. Then they'd have 2 versions for a period of time. Someone in accounting and logistics would have to do more work.

Seems like a perfect time to bring that conversation to a halt with the "if it's not broke, don't fix it" line.

[jltsiren]

Different industries move at a different pace.

Many common power plugs were standardized 50-100 years ago. Compared to them, even USB-A is still new. If all you need is power delivery, there is little reason to switch to yet another plug type, which only exists because of unrelated requirements in other industries.

[michaelmrose]

At introduction there were billions of USB A peripherals and few users with USB C ports. The only sane thing for peripherals to do is ship USB A not wanting to cut out 99% of the market and the only sane thing given that for PCs to do is ship mostly USB A ports. So we start with an obvious optimal choice on all parties parts right now how do we break out of a trivial equilibrium into a mostly USB C universe?

If a PC ships with mostly USB C ports. Well since the majority of accessories are A users are going to be frustrated when they need adapters/a hub to plug in anything because they don't have enough of the ports accessories actually use.

If accessories shift first then users are going to be frustrated when they need adapters or a hub to have enough ports to plug in their accessories.

Remember that the average user keeps a computer for 6 years and they keep accessories longer often throwing things out when they literally stop working or can't be made to work with their new device.

Furthermore even a slight increase in costs is problematic when you margins are fairly razor thing. It's a really hard sell for anyone to move forward.

Apple has a substantial advantage here wherein they have enough good will from their users, enough margin, and enough sway to simply upgrade and tell their users to buy adapters while neither losing profit nor users.

That being said being A is hardly a middle finger for the vast majority of devices which need neither more power/more speed than usb 3.2 2x1 can provide as we are talking about 10Gbps and 15W. The most common accessories are mouse,keyboard,sound,cameras,small storage, less commonly network adapters

We haven't yet found a compelling case for a beefy connection but surely there is right.

High end video capture, high end storage, displays, hubs that serve many fast devices, 10Gbps Ethernet.

None as common as the previously listed and not fun to get working when not every port supports high power, higher speed, or optional features nor every cord. Using such features feels like the plug and pray of the early 90s whereas plugging in a DisplayPort monitor or a standard stereo jack speaker system is as boring as plugging in a toaster.