make it so theirs doesn't fit ours. that way we can force people to buy our parts

[the plug on the left has been in common use for years. there is nothing wrong with it except we have lots and lots of them in bushel baskets. so some goon make the one on the right. not that it is better in any way: it isn't]

Says who? Are you an electrical engineer? A design engineer? The manufacturer may disagree with you. I may disagree with you.

Mike Acker is exactly right. The plug end pictured on the left is the standard plug used to supply 110v to most computers and computer peripherals. It is hardy, tried, and true, and he is precisely correct. They are available by the bushel basket.

The plug end portrayed on the right is one of a family of plug ends used most prominently in laptop AC adapters. Since the standard cord was sufficient for many years, and since the other cord is varied greatly between brands, the only logical conclusion one can reach is that the manufacturer chose the latter in order to create a more exclusive part, thus causing the buyer to buy the part from the manufacturer rather than from the abundant standard market product. There is no real advantage in the plug design.

Neither has anything to do with toasters btw, it was I who introduced toasters into the conversation by way of example.

Don't like it? Seriously - don't buy it. Your entire problem from start to finish to is completely solved.

A silly suggestion- the reason Mike Acker must have been looking for one is that the power cord to his laptop or console (or printer, etc) is faulty and he needs a new one. To suggest that he forgo the use of an expensive machine for the cause of a damaged power cord is simply ridiculous.

I don't need the government to tell me which toaster to buy or why.

Neither do I. I do need business to watch out for it's customers, as was the case in the past, and as it should be now. Government cannot force a business to do the right thing. That is the wrong model.

Not true! I bought a Sanyo from Japan several years ago.

I was using a toaster as an example. Sad that you had to rely on a company based in Japan...

I cook a lot, and that made it worthwhile.

Me too.

My neighbor has a KitchenAid Pro, which is excellent, too(also expensive - around $225 dollars).

I have a KitchenAid mixer, but I am unhappy with the design. I prefer the swing-away Oster mixmaster style, and I find the KitchenAid always leaves a bit unmixed at the bottom unless one stops the machine and scrapes the bottom out. It frustrates me.

Still, they are not as much as a toaster was in the 1940s/50's in today's dollars and you get so many cool new features.

I disagree. The simplicity and durability of pre-'70s/'80s American products were the perfect model. Most of the new features are a lot like Microsoft Office- Things the average user neither needs nor will take the time to learn.

The US system of innovation coupled with ever-lowering costs for better products and more product choices is second to none.

I strongly disagree. The American industrial ethic is long gone. Planned obsolescence, Just-in-time parts systems, customer tie-in, part re-design, and relative quality philosophies are a poor replacement and a damnable shame.

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