You ever wonder what the purpose of keying connectors is? I'm curious, because it's one of those time-tested ways to ensure that things get plugged into the correct ports and avoid costly accidents. Really simple too.
Why on earth is a standard as ridiculously complicated as USB-C a better idea? What is the practical value of an "everything" connector when its spec is so complicated that it really doesn't support "everything" at all?
Unfortunately, using identical connectors for incompatible protocols — often hazardously incompatible (to equipment) protocols — is an equally time-tested industry tradition, and not only in more cost-conscious market segments.
High-voltage differential SCSI comes immediately to mind — one might imagine there'd have been enough margin and price inelasticity in the market for $200 cables used to connect rooms full of $20,000+ storage devices to support the development and manufacture of slightly different connectors to prevent damage by connection to then-ubiquitous single-ended SCSI busses, but I suppose the projections for increased sales or reduced maintenance costs (for the vendors) due to redesigning the connector weren't high enough to justify a decision to standardize on different connectors for single-ended and differential SCSI.
Similarly, given that USB-C was essentially a fait accompli on the drawing board, short of material risk of injury or death due to misuse of otherwise compliant cables, I'm not convinced any one player in the industry — or any group of players likely to collaborate on something such as this — has both the means and the motive to seriously suggest something better.
Why build a better mousetrap when the world can't afford to beat a path away from your door?
> identical connectors for incompatible protocols — often hazardously incompatible (to equipment) protocols
The main actual hazard with USB-C is that somebody solders the low voltage power pins backwards. What that has happened, it could happen to absolutely any type of cable, so it's not exactly a problem with the standard.
For low volume production items, the plastics are more costly to design than the electronics. Therefore laptop docking stations are expensive to manufacture, especially as they are in use by only a subset of users.
By converting to a docking station that requires a simple small plug for everything, that makes them much cheaper. Instead of making a huge chunk of plastic that the laptop has to click into.
That explains why laptops should have a standardized "docking station" port, not why that port needs to also support literally everything that runs on electricity with the ability to also channel high-current power in both directions.
What's your threshold for "high-current"? USB ports have been delivering about two amps for a decade, and most USB laptop chargers cap at three amps. Even the absolute max of five isn't much higher.
Why on earth is a standard as ridiculously complicated as USB-C a better idea? What is the practical value of an "everything" connector when its spec is so complicated that it really doesn't support "everything" at all?