How many kinds of USB-C to USB-C cables are there?

Huh. This was unknown unknown for me–I didn't know didn't know. I knew how to check device ports for markings, but it did not occur to me that I must check the cables too.

I've had a USB-C capable device (MBP) for a few years now, and it originally was extremely annoying. Needing dongles for _everything_ was annoying, and getting rid of Magsafe meant a lot of my existing chargers that I'd accumulated no longer worked. My work laptop (at the time) didn't use USB-C, so I had to keep two chargers around, and I couldn't charge my iPhone from my laptop at all.

Fast forward a few years and I think it's great.

I have a dock at home that I can plug both my work and personal laptop in and have it work seamlessly with two 4k monitors, gigabit ethernet, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc.

After biting the bullet and getting some USB C -> Lightning cables, I actually need to carry fewer chargers, fewer cables and everything sort of just works. The new iPad Pro helps a lot with that as well. USB PD means that everything charges faster, as well.

USB-C is sort of a nightmare until it's not, and that transition is basically an entire product cycle (or two) for people, which means a lot of time. At some point, I hope that issues like this become more identified in software (as mentioned), and cheap USB C cables that only have 2.0 support are less common.

Furthermore, while there was once a point where the physical layer matched up well enough with product support, actually connecting a display has always been a pain in the ass. Devices are still shipping with VGA ports because of it - USB-C is no panacea, but I think it's a huge improvement in aggregate.

I wish they would have also discussed how this relates to Thunderbolt 3, which I believe would add at least two cable types: "7 (TB3 passive)" and "8 (TB3 active)"... of course I'm probably completely misunderstanding this crazy labyrinth of lookalikes.

Here's a lovely statement regarding TB3 from an online FAQ:

Are all Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) cables created equal? No, in fact, there are two types of Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) cables, passive and active. Passive cables cost less and can reach up to 40 Gb/s data transfer if the length is 0.5m or less and 20 Gb/s if over 0.5m. Active cables can reach up to 40 Gb/s data transfer with a length of up to 2m.

You ever wonder what the purpose of keying connectors is? I'm curious, because it's one of those time-tested ways to ensure that things get plugged into the correct ports and avoid costly accidents. Really simple too.

Why on earth is a standard as ridiculously complicated as USB-C a better idea? What is the practical value of an "everything" connector when its spec is so complicated that it really doesn't support "everything" at all?

That or it's a spectacular example of committee design failure.

I can't tell what runs deeper: evil or stupidity. :D