17 lines
2.8 KiB
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17 lines
2.8 KiB
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>connector conspiracy</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../C.html" title="C"/><link rel="previous" href="confuser.html" title="confuser"/><link rel="next" href="cons.html" title="cons"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">connector conspiracy</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="confuser.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><th width="60%" align="center">C</th><td width="20%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="cons.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="connector-conspiracy"/><dt xmlns="" id="connector-conspiracy"><b>connector conspiracy</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [probably came into prominence with the appearance of the KL-10 (one
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model of the <a href="../P/PDP-10.html"><i class="glossterm">PDP-10</i></a>), none of whose connectors
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matched anything else] The tendency of manufacturers (or, by extension,
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programmers or purveyors of anything) to come up with new products that
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don't fit together with the old stuff, thereby making you buy either all
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new stuff or expensive interface devices.</p><p>(A closely related phenomenon, with a slightly different intent, is
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the habit manufacturers have of inventing new screw heads so that only
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Designated Persons, possessing the magic screwdrivers, can remove covers
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and make repairs or install options. A good 1990s example is the use of
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Torx screws for cable-TV set-top boxes. Older Apple Macintoshes took this
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one step further, requiring not only a long Torx screwdriver but a
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specialized case-cracking tool to open the box.)</p><p>In these latter days of open-systems computing this term has fallen
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somewhat into disuse, to be replaced by the observation that
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“<span class="quote">Standards are great! There are so many of them to choose
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from!</span>” Compare <a href="../B/backward-combatability.html"><i class="glossterm">backward combatability</i></a>.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="confuser.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../C.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="cons.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">confuser<EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"><EFBFBD>cons</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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