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People already get the names wrong, so the USB group has doubled down on bad naming.
USB 3.0 was straightforward enough. A USB 3.0 connection ran at 5Gb/s, and slower connections were USB 2 or even USB 1.1. The new 5Gb/s data rate was branded "SuperSpeed USB," following USB 2's 480Mb/s "High Speed" and USB 1.1's 12Mb/s "Full Speed."
But then USB 3.1 came along and muddied the waters. Its big new feature was doubling the data rate to 10Gb/s. The logical thing would have been to identify existing 5Gb/s devices as "USB 3.0" and new 10Gb/s devices as "USB 3.1." But that's not what the USB-IF did. For reasons that remain hard to understand, the decision was made to retroactively rebrand USB 3.0: 5Gb/s 3.0 connections became "USB 3.1 Gen 1," with the 10Gb/s connections being "USB 3.1 Gen 2." The consumer branding is "SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps."
What this branding meant is that many manufacturers say that a device supports "USB 3.1" even if it's only a "USB 3.1 Gen 1" device running at 5Gb/s. Meanwhile, other manufacturers do the sensible thing: they use "USB 3.0" to denote 5Gb/s devices and reserve "USB 3.1" for 10Gb/s parts.
USB 3.2 doubles down on this confusion. 5Gb/s devices are now "USB 3.2 Gen 1." 10Gb/s devices become "USB 3.2 Gen 2." And 20Gb/s devices will be... "USB 3.2 Gen 2×2." Because they work by running two 10Gb/s connections along different pairs of wires simultaneously, and it's just obvious from arithmetic that you'd number the generations "1, 2, 2×2." Perhaps they're named for powers of two, starting with zero? The consumer branding is a more reasonable "SuperSpeed USB 20Gbps."
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 2) by Absolutely.Geek on Wednesday February 27 2019, @11:30PM (1 child)
I hear you are having issues with brand confusion; I think that we can generally agree that you have no idea how to name things.
How about we make a small change and simplify things. I propose we change the naming to something we can all agree on; it is the speed that matters.
USB 3.0 / USB 3.1 Gen 1 / USB 3.2 Gen 1 Should now be referred to as USB 3 - 5
USB 3.1 / USB 3.1 Gen 2 / USB 3.2 Gen 2 Should now be referred to as USB 3 - 10
USB 3.2 2x2 Should now be referred to as USB 3 - 20
USB 3 - 5 supported plug types A / C
USB 3 - 10 supported plug types A / C
USB 3 - 20 supported plug types C
Simple elegant and full of useful information.
Note further developments are easily managed e.g.
USB 3 - 40 supported plug types C / D
USB 4 - 100 supported plug types D
Don't trust the police or the government - Shihad: My mind's sedate.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday February 28 2019, @03:20PM
Maybe the group (ir)resonsible for USB should create a laminated cheat sheet and distribute it with every USB device, cable and accessory.
This can't possibly be a failure of marketing and branding.
(idea: put all marketing people into space craft and fire it into the sun. does not require a high quality durable life support system. Maybe also include PHBs if there is room left over)
The thing about landline phones is that they never get lost. No air tag necessary.