connector conspiracy

[probably came into prominence with the appearance of theKL-10 (one model of the PDP-10), none of whose connectorsmatched anything else]. The tendency of manufacturers (or, byextension, programmers or purveyors of anything) to come upwith new products that don't fit together with the old stuff,thereby making you buy either all new stuff or expensiveinterface devices. The KL-10 Massbus connector was actually*patented* by DEC, which reputedly refused to licence thedesign and thus effectively locked third parties out ofcompetition for the lucrative Massbus peripherals market.This policy is a source of never-ending frustration for thediehards who maintain older PDP-10 or VAX systems. TheirCPUs work fine, but they are stuck with dying, obsolescentdisk and tape drives with low capacity and high powerrequirements.

A closely related phenomenon, with a slightly differentintent, is the habit manufacturers have of inventing new screwheads so that only Designated Persons, possessing the magicscrewdrivers, can remove covers and make repairs or installoptions. Older Apple Macintoshes took this one stepfurther, requiring not only a hex wrench but a specialisedcase-cracking tool to open the box.

In these latter days of open-systems computing this term hasfallen somewhat into disuse, to be replaced by the observationthat "Standards are great! There are so *many* of them tochoose from!" Compare backward combatability.

单词	connector conspiracy
释义	connector conspiracy connector conspiracy [probably came into prominence with the appearance of theKL-10 (one model of the PDP-10), none of whose connectorsmatched anything else]. The tendency of manufacturers (or, byextension, programmers or purveyors of anything) to come upwith new products that don't fit together with the old stuff,thereby making you buy either all new stuff or expensiveinterface devices. The KL-10 Massbus connector was actuallypatented by DEC, which reputedly refused to licence thedesign and thus effectively locked third parties out ofcompetition for the lucrative Massbus peripherals market.This policy is a source of never-ending frustration for thediehards who maintain older PDP-10 or VAX systems. TheirCPUs work fine, but they are stuck with dying, obsolescentdisk and tape drives with low capacity and high powerrequirements. A closely related phenomenon, with a slightly differentintent, is the habit manufacturers have of inventing new screwheads so that only Designated Persons, possessing the magicscrewdrivers, can remove covers and make repairs or installoptions. Older Apple Macintoshes took this one stepfurther, requiring not only a hex wrench but a specialisedcase-cracking tool to open the box. In these latter days of open-systems computing this term hasfallen somewhat into disuse, to be replaced by the observationthat "Standards are great! There are so many of them tochoose from!" Compare backward combatability.
随便看	vp6 vp7 vp 8 vp8 vp 9 vp9 v-pa vp/a vpa vpaa vp-aass vpac vpacs vpad vpae vpaf vpag vpai vp-ais vpak vpal vp-am vpam vpap v papilionacea