[Voltages and frequencies](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/World_Map_of_Mains_Voltages_and_Frequencies%2C_Detailed.svg/2754px-World_Map_of_Mains_Voltages_and_Frequencies%2C_Detailed.svg.png) are bad enough but [**plugs**](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/World_map_of_electrical_mains_power_plug_types_used.svg/2560px-World_map_of_electrical_mains_power_plug_types_used.svg.png) are on another level entirely.
Small appliances differ very little, if at all, and some brands can be found nearly everywhere – yet manufacturers (or users themselves) need to adjust them to local standards… that are there for what reason? Why can’t a universal standard be agreed upon?
There is a cost of adopting a standard, of course, but can’t adoption be gradual – e.g. replacement at EOL?
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>can’t adoption be gradual – e.g. replacement at EOL?
No. This is a classic problem with standards. Say I’m in a 230V country that wants to switch to 115V. The power company can’t just switch voltage, or everybody’s stuff will suddenly stop working. Customers can’t just gradually replace their 230V stuff with 115, because it’ll blow up if they plug it in.
When everything has to be compatible with everything it connects to, you can’t do gradual replacement, you have to completely replace everything all at once. Which is hideously expensive, and when we’re talking about the electrical grid, messing it up means people die. Not just from electrocutions, but power outages are deadly.
There’s a name for this general problem that I can’t remember now, but it happens a lot. You can’t use a better nut because it won’t fit on the existing bolts, you can’t get a better bolt because it won’t take your existing nuts, the only choice is to replace all your nuts and bolts simultaneously, but that’s expensive and if you remove too many bolts at once the bridge might collapse, so you keep using the same shitty bolts.
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