Cross-Platform P2P Wi-Fi: How the EU Killed AWDL

I do love bureaucrats who could not tell Wifi from InfraRed deciding what comms standards are to be used.

Indeed, it's a lot better when the EU bureaucrats in collaboration with industry experts decide what comms standards should be used instead of profit maximizing megacorporations!

For what it's worth, the bureaucrats did just fine with USB-C and Lightning.

Competent government workers are able to rely on experts to deal with various issues. There's lots of regulation around tech, environment, animals, health, building requirements, etc. that we can't realistically expect everyone to have a deep understanding of.

I don't care how dumb the bureaucrats are so long as the end result is that when my parents ask me to "AirDrop" them a file or picture, the conversation doesn't end with...

- I texted it to you, but it looks like crap, because MMS is crap

- I tried to email it to you but it's over 2 megs and I have to walk downstairs, get it off my phone and onto a Real Computer™, then scale it down

- I emailed you a Google Drive link, wait what do you mean you don't know how to sign into that? Yeah just use that app... oh wait no that's a different Google Account from the one you have your Gmail on

- No, I'm not using Messenger, I don't like getting my data zucked by Facebook

- Hey, there's this very easy way you can send files, you just need to install this app - what do you mean you forgot your Apple ID password for the third time this week?

- Let me run downstairs and get my special USB-C flash drive - oh god damn it you still have the phones with Lightning ports on them

- Let me run downstairs and grab my iPad, chuck the image over to it using Dropbox, then AirDrop you

AirDrop just works, not because it's Apple, but because having a direct P2P transfer utility built into every phone and laptop cuts out all sorts of setup and permissioning issues. Apple just decided their protocol was going to be the only one they'd support, and that everyone else who bought the wrong phone should pound sand.

Come on, man. I can't say I miss the trillion charger types of the late 1990s and early 2000s. We have the EU to thank for USB-C. It may not be perfect, but being able to use the same charger to power/charge my phone, headphones and laptop is awesome. I can't say the same of my retro gear, until I modify it myself to have a USB-C charging port. Having a compatible wireless communication standard is along the same lines, in my opinion.

> We have the EU to thank for USB-C.

USB-C was the default connector on most devices long before the EU mandate.

> We have the EU to thank for USB-C

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB-C

> The design for the USB-C connector was initially developed in 2012 by Intel, HP Inc., Microsoft, and the USB Implementers Forum. The Type-C Specification 1.0 was published by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) on August 11, 2014.[1] In July 2016, it was adopted by the IEC as "IEC 62680-1-3".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_Implementers_Forum

> USB Implementers Forum, Inc. (USB-IF) is a nonprofit organization created to promote and maintain USB (Universal Serial Bus), a set of specifications and transmission procedures for a type of cable connection that has since become used widely for electronic equipment. Its main activities are currently the promotion and marketing of USB, Wireless USB, USB On-The-Go, and the maintenance of standards and specifications for the related devices, as well as a compliance program.

> The USB-IF was initiated in 1995[1] by the group of companies that was developing USB, which was made available first during 1996. The founding companies of USB-IF were Compaq, Digital Equipment Corporation, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NEC and Nortel. Notable current members include HP, NEC, Microsoft, Apple Inc., Intel, and Agere Systems.

We have mega corporations to thank for USB-C. Notably none of these companies are European. None.

It would never have been universal of not for the EU

Like the Micro-USB?

Are you sure this will last a decade? The EU has a tendency to demand without thinking. Just like the last time, the modern world will move on, and the EU will pretend like it had anything to do with the next time.

“I do not care how dumb the bureaucrats are, as long as I get the result of you spending thousands of hours designing something almost magical for free without paying you”

Apple is being paid, the cost of the software is bundled into the device. That's their entire business model.

>The EU has a tendency to demand without thinking. Just like the last time, the modern world will move on, and the EU will pretend like it had anything to do with the next time.

I have no imagination of what you're talking about. EU is more modern than the vast majority of the planet.