I've just bought a couple of new bits of hardware and was very pleasantly surprised how things have changed for the better.
I got a wireless trackerball and a UPS both with USB connections.
I plugged the trackerball receiver in, pressed the connect button and it started working. That wasn't a great surprise but obviously nice.
I plugged the UPS in and, before I had a chance to check that it had been detected and then look for software for it an icon appeared telling me the UPS was fully charged and also reporting on the batteries in the wireless trackerball.
For simplicity this beats having to install software from an accompanying CD in order to get the same features.
It seems when manufacturers adopt standard protocols or are more open about the protocols and interfaces they do use the pace of development increases dramatically.
Steve.