USB: The Consumer Perspective

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USBThe Consumer Perspective

• Robin Raskin
• Editor in Chief, FamilyPC

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Views from the Trenches

• One mans story
• Stories from the street
• Letters from our readers

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The Upshot?

• Computing has a zillion personal stories
• And its still complicated
• Busy people want it to work, not troubleshoot
• When they troubleshoot theyll blamethings
  erroneously
• Need for information and education buteven more
  .

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They Need Someone Willing to Do the Install
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Great Moments inEase of Use

• Windows Interface
• Mouse
• CD ROM
• Browser
• USB ???

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And Not So Great Moments

• Sleep Mode
• Device Drivers
• Modem connectionsto anywhere
• Moving to a NewMachine
• USB??

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What Can We Deduce?

• PCs get easier to use
• Easier can take a few iterations to get right
• Its easier to breakthrough with a new thing
  than move incrementally ?
• As a mature industry wemust do better at
  hypeand expectation

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The USB Story

• PC as food processor cant work with serial and
  parallel connections
• Unwieldy pin cables, interrupts, drivers
• USB 1.0
• Modular cable -- you mean I dont have to count
  pins??
• Hot swap , automatic configuration
• No interrupt conflicts
• Fast
• Expandable to 127 devices to one PC

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A Longtime Coming

• Announced in 1995
• Built into Intel chipsets
• 1998 brings software support
• By the time USB arrived it was not a revolution,
  but something that finallyworked as advertised

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That Said.

• FamilyPC poll
• 71 think USB is agreat thing
• Many seem to be newdevice buyers
• Love letters from readers
• All glazed over when we talked about 2.0

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Will 2.0 Be Different?
Making the Right Motions

• Implementation will be on a separate chip that PC
  manufacturers buy until 2001 when its integrated
  into chipset
• Software and hardware support simultaneous

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Consumer Concerns Windows

• No support for USB in Windows NT today
• Windows 98 and Me
• Popularized USB 1.0
• No OS today has USB 2.0 support
• Support in Q1, 01

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Microsofts Part

• Reliability vs. Multimedia is plaguing customers
  today
• Will Microsoft push the 2.0 spec as newOS
  improvement?
• Few consumers download patchesand upgrades
• The mission is to have the drivers in theOS and
  not require any driver install

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Vocal IndustrySupport Required

• USB.org
• 26 vendors announced USB 2.0 products
• Notable exceptions in big names
• Need strong vocal support from
• Microsoft -- glad to hear theyre on top of this
• Apple
• SONY, Kodak, Epson, Canon
• When will Palm announce USB support?
• Backwards compatibility alwaysa question

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Customer Complaintson USB 1.0

• Not enough ports on machine (ports should be in
  front)
• Cant tell right side up for plug
• Cable ends too flimsy
• Not much experience with multipleUSB devices
• Introduced in 1995 but not widespread until
• 1999 thats a long four years.

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What They Will Like in 2.0?

• Evolutionary not revolutionary
• Co-existence of 1.0 and 2.0
• No new cables (though we hear a desirefor color
  coding)

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Common Wisdom

• 1394 used for video and image capture
• Peer to peer
• No computer required

• USB used for keyboards, mice, scanners, printers
  and Internet appliances
• Host to peripheral

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USB 2.0 / Firewire

• Similar speeds / different markets
• Firewire more expensive to implement
• Licensing fee
• Penetration of Firewire in video cameras, digital
  TV

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The Likely Outcome

• Firewire dominatesconsumer electronics
• USB dominates PC
• Is that the optimalscenario?

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The Consumer Mindset

• Consumers now expect plug and play for free
• The schizophrenia about backwards compatibility
• Worry that this makes a more complex, ie. more
  expensive chip set
• Betting that volume will decrease costs
• Too much, too fast?
• Confusion in marketing HighSpeedvs. Classic

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Potential Big Win 1
New Peripherals We Havent Even Thought of Yet

• Medical monitoring
• Exercise
• Drawing tools
• Game experiences
• Voice

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Potential Big Win 2

• Home with 2 or 3 PCs and high speed peripherals
  that can be EXPENSIVEbut are shared

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What Not to Do

• Call it USB 2.0
• High Speed USB, Fast USB, 2nd Generation USB
• Deliver devices without support in hardware,
  software and OS

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What to Do

• Benchmark USB 2.0 against 1394 across different
  peripheral categories
• Have all new PCs 2.0 ready by Q2
• Keep having Plugfests but mix and match 1.0 and
  2.0 peripherals
• Build USB information into system settings
• Keep USB the same across all Windows OS