Why can’t we just figure out what screw -head- shape is the best and always use that. It seems pointless to have hundreds of different screw types for very similar things. Obviously this is excluding things like lug nuts or anything heavy duty.
Edit:specifying screw heads, not the threads or shape.
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Basically, before standardization as we know it today became a thing, every company made their own screws that suited whatever purpose they needed. The first few screws were stuff like the Philips head, which is widespread in the US. This head is easy for humans to work with, though they have some disadvantages when working with machines. Still, they existed, so people used them.
Later, you get things like square heads. These were made during the industrialization, as its much easier to build a machine to use those. Later came hexagonal screws, which caused less wear on the tools, as the torque was more evenly and more effectively applied. Then along came things like Torx, which are designed to further optimize this,
Also, it should be mentioned that, as various countries industrialized, they often came up with similar screw designs. For instance, the japanese had their own screws, the JIS screws. They look a lot like Philips screws, but in fact, while you can turn a Philips screw with a JIS screwdriver, the reverse is not true, as unlike the Philips screws, JIS screws keep the inner corners in the middle of the cross, and Philips screwdrivers are designed to be shaped accordingly, thus, you cannot use them on JIS screws.
Also also, there’s companies like Apple. Apple famously makes their devices difficult to repair so they can charge service fees. For this purpose, they’ll have their own screws that cannot be turned with ordinary screwdrivers, specifically to stop you from opening their devices and repairing them yourself. Nowadays, they usually use Pentalobe screws for this purpose, as a screwdriver for these screws is hard to come by, and certainly not in every garage.
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