> Why didn't they design it to go in in any orientation?
'They' ( Ajay Bhatt and his team at Intel ) considered that to be a good idea, but decided against it for cost reasons at a time they were trying to get USB adopted. A reversible plug would have doubled the wiring complexity in the connector and that was considered financially unviable. USB at the time had to be as cheap as possible to make it 'universal".
Incidentally in the UK we have a non-IT equivalent to the problem, the Standard Lamp Paradox. Since there is a switch on domestic electrical outlets, and another switch on a lamp, it often takes three tries in the dark to turn on a lamp since the initial switch state is unknown.
'They' ( Ajay Bhatt and his team at Intel ) considered that to be a good idea, but decided against it for cost reasons at a time they were trying to get USB adopted. A reversible plug would have doubled the wiring complexity in the connector and that was considered financially unviable. USB at the time had to be as cheap as possible to make it 'universal".
Incidentally in the UK we have a non-IT equivalent to the problem, the Standard Lamp Paradox. Since there is a switch on domestic electrical outlets, and another switch on a lamp, it often takes three tries in the dark to turn on a lamp since the initial switch state is unknown.