Open letter to every last company on Earth

[lilfluff]

To: Every company in the world
Re: Data/Sync/Etc Cables

If your gadget needs a cable there is an answer for that. It is called USB. If for some reason you don't want to use USB there is FireWire. Or, if it makes sense you might use an external SATA cable.

If you use a proprietary cable then you are part of the problem. You may think you have a valid reason for using a proprietary cable. This most likely means you are actually in need of a clue-by-four applied vigorously to your backside.

If you use a proprietary cable then you need to have your IP stolen, your employees poached by other companies, and for your company to suffer the death of a thousand lawsuits.

Do I sound irked? I do hope so, because I am.

(Oh, and Apple, yes I'm looking at you as I type this)

Edit: And after finally getting the cable and copying the music over, I found the whole process annoying enough I spent money I shouldn't be spending to replace the whole thing. Picked up a SanDisk Sansa Fuze+ 8GB player. Double the capacity of the old nano, takes mp3s, ogg, jpegs, and video files (although I'm not entirely sure why I would want to watch video on a two inch screen). Good news: It uses a USB cable for syncing and charging. Bad-ish news: it uses a "micro-b" size USB cable. Good-ish news: Since this is what cell phones are moving to, I shouldn't have trouble picking up spares.

Comments

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Buy an Apple product recently did you?

[lilfluff.livejournal.com]

A few years ago actually. 4 gig iPod nano. I was about to charge it and copy over some new music and realized I hadn't packed the special cable. :/

[ryalto.livejournal.com]

Your post is doubly ironic since Apple was one of the major proponets of Firewire back when it and USB first came out.

[lilfluff.livejournal.com]

Yeah. If the iPod took a straight up Firewire connection I wouldn't mind. Heck, Firewire wasn't just pushed by Apple, they were who developed it.

[ryalto.livejournal.com]

*adds another reason to not buy certain Apple products*

[seawasp]

If they use a proprietary cable, it's to make you pay $40.00 for a $5.00 cable.

If you buy things that use proprietary cables, you are telling them "Good, I want to pay $40.00 for those cables!" And they are laughing at your rant.

(I just paid $40.00 for an Apple cable a couple weeks ago)

[lilfluff.livejournal.com]

True. Anymore this is one of my criteria when looking at gadgets. I'm hoping the European "All cell phones must take some standard variety of USB" rule will carry over into the US models.

I'd also like for power cables to be standardized. No reason they couldn't settle on one or two power levels pick a standard prong, and have laptops and the like use that.

While engaging in wishful thinking, I'll also hope that Google's effort to have a non-proprietary office/household DC wiring & connectors will eventually go somewhere.

[databank.livejournal.com]

I sell more of the 2"/16GB Sony media players over the 2.whatevah"/16GB enhanced models with built-in speakers simply because they take a standard Mini-B cable (and I point this out to my customers). The Sony Reader will also charge over USB and a typical Mini-B connector, which means it's easy enough for me to sell someone a $18 USB Car/Home charger that sits in a nondescript place on the shelf. It'll charge an iP* if you have the right cable too, but... it includes a Mini-B.

[lilfluff.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I ended up paying $10 more for the Sansa Fuze+ than the Sony's that were also on the shelf, but the only Sony's were the ones that take the proprietary cable.

That said it's a bit irksome that there is both mini-usb and nearly the same size micro-usb. Since my camera and Reader both use mini, and the Fuze+ is the only thing I have that takes micro.

[jecook]

I hear ya. I managed to luck out and caught woot when they had a 3 pack of the special sanza cables, so I've got extras when I break mine.

I am mostly thankful that most of the cell phone manufacturers have all moved en masse to using either Mini or Micro USB plugs (the latter was designed with their input- it has a higher insertion cycle rating then MiniUSB)- it appears that my crackberry's charger has either given up the ghost, or the cable's been victimized by the resident cable-chewing feline, so I'm charging it now via the powered USB hub I have.

[lilfluff.livejournal.com]

As I just put in an edit above, I decided I was annoyed enough to pick up a new mp3 player. I decided on the Sansa Fuze+, which in addition to being newer, also has switched from a proprietary connector to micro-usb. So all I need do to get a spare is go shopping for a fat-usb to micro-usb cable.

[jecook]

Newegg, something like $5 will get you a generic one that'll serve you well.

I also got lucky and scavanged one from work's pile of cell phones that were going to asset recovery for use in troubleshooting the crackberries we use at work every now and again when they refuse to work with BES.