In message <E4A6225E-34AB-4136-9D3E-A78E558CA6B0@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Winsor Crosby <wincros@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Actually, a bit more. Apple invented it and last I read anything
> about it was charging a $1 license fee for each jack on a device.
> Resistance to the fee is what spurred the development of USB2. Made
> me wonder how cheap USB was.
$1500 for a logo licence, plus cost of testing by a USB-IF approved testing
agency, IIRC. Most of the Chinese and Taiwanese noname manufacturers don't
bother with the (trademarked) USB logo, and just print "USB 1.1 Compatible"
on the box. Nice little workaround - they can't call it "USB", but they can
call it "USB compatible". In theory anyway.
As long as you don't mind not being able to use the USB logo, you just have
to buy a Vendor ID from the USB-IF. Like said - you can't call it "USB" or
use the USB logo, but apparently "USB compatible" is fine.
I would expect Epson, Nikon and the other big-names to have gone through the
necessary logo-qualification testing though, if only for the brag factor.
The one thing that really does annoy me about USB2 is the variety of names
for the different speeds - "Low Speed" for 1Mbps, "Full Speed" for 11Mbps
and "High Speed" for 480Mbps. Most people seem to think "Full Speed" is
faster than "High Speed", but strangely enough it's not... Naming conventions
gone mad.
I was one of the naysayers that said "USB will never catch on". Now I find
myself with a USB scanner, USB printer, USB pendrive, USB Bluetooth adapter,
USB digital camera, two USB memory card readers, and a USB webcam...
--
Phil. | Kitsune: Acorn RiscPC SA202 64M+6G VF+UniPod
philpem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx | Cheetah: Athlon64 3200+ A8VDeluxeV2 1G+180G
http://www.philpem.me.uk/ | Tiger: Toshiba SatPro4600 Celeron700 256M+40G
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