Usb - or Universal Serial Bus technology has come to be a widespread, simple, cheap way of connecting all kinds of devices. Its popularity has come about highly quickly as the history of Usb only stretches back to the mid-1990s. This record gives an summary of Usb technology, its history and its future.
History:
Usb technology was developed in order to gift a accepted means by which devices, particularly computer-related devices, could interconnect and communicate. It was created by a collaboration of Intel, Compaq, Microsoft, Digital, Ibm, and Northern Telecom. In the early days of the Ibm Pc, there were a myriad of connections for different types of devices including, At, serial, parallel, joystick, Scsi & Ps/2. None of these ports were compatible with each other & each served essentially the same function. Enter Usb. Not only did Usb give one interface, it provided power for some devices and it enabled users to plug a large amount of devices into one machine.
Pre-releases of the Usb accepted came in 1994 with the final Usb 1.0 specification being released to market in November 1995. The accepted was improved upon in September 1998 with Usb 1.1 which many of the problems identified in the former accepted were fixed.
Usb could work at 1.5 or 12 mbps but with competition from Firewire & with technology placing greater demands on bandwidth, Usb 2.0 released in August 2000, could handle speeds of 480mbps.
Adoption:
All connectors face an adoption question and Usb was no different. There is only a market for a expedient that is interconnectable if there are other devices in the market that it can associate to. These network effect can hamper the adoption of every expedient (if you are the only man with a telephone, it's not much use but if you're one of millions with the same, standardised system, the increased market for the accepted makes it more affordable and more spicy to others).
Usb was given a real boost by the iMac which offered Usb ports only & no heritage option. This meant that there was a market where Usb could gain a foothold.
The Present:
Usb devices achieve many functions highly well. Devices can be hot-swapped - that is they could be related & disconnected without it being critical to reboot a Pc. Devices from many thousands of manufacturers can intercommunicate, many devices can be installed without a exact expedient driver, some devices can be related to computers without the need for an external power contribute and others can recharge by being related via a Usb device.
Usb connectors are robust in that they do not rely on pins that are easy to bend or break. Usb cables are designed so that static electricity is discharged before a relationship is made manufacture the accepted more durable.
The connections are highly usable & it is easy to associate Usb devices or to realise that you have the wrong end of the cable. By design, the cables are easy to attach & take off - there is no need for screws - meaning that they are certainly accessible by all.
Future:
The future for Usb is the Usb 3.0 accepted that will work at 4.8 gbps, ten times the current rate. This new accepted will only be backwards-compatible with Usb 2.0 but will include some power conservation features. Increased speed & better power consumption will help Usb compete with the other standards on the market together with Firewire 800 & eSata.
To put the operation of the new Usb accepted into perspective, currently, it would take 15 minutes to copy a 27gb high definition film; the new accepted will mean that this can be finished in 70 seconds.
The Usb accepted is highly usable and durable & it has heavy popularity. Many movable 'phones have a Usb relationship & Usb Flash drives make the replacement of large amounts of data an highly uncomplicated process. A subculture of Usb gadgets has sprung up in recent years with weird & wacky devices like Usb fridges, vacuums, toasters, slippers & back massagers all hitting the market to heavy amounts of interest and varying degrees of success. It is spicy that whilst it was the brainchild of a amount of fellowships together with Microsoft & Intel it was Apple that gave Usb its popularity. Windows machines did not deal well with Usb even as late as Windows 98 but the iMac showed how Usb devices could be used to give a great deal of variety straight through ultimate simplicity.
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