I've also had basically zero issue with Lightning connectors, but had a constant battle with USB-C of every kind to figure out what's charging, what's data, what's PD, and so much more hassle.
I don't get why Apple was forced to colonize by the EU when they had the market-leading connector in place for significantly longer than USB-C even existed.
"It's only USB2!" Does it have to support the faster USB3 speeds? Not really... we don't have to keep forcing everything to include the latest kitchen sink support.
If apple had made lightning an actual standard everyone was using then the eu might have chosen that instead.
But they didn't. Every single other company/device was using usb(c) and it probably wasn't because of some kind if irrational dislike of words starting with the letter L.
As far as I understand Apple could have still supported an additional lightning port if they really cared about it.
Per gemini for making ligthning accessories you also have to pay 4$ to apple per device that are passed onto the consumer.
I dont know in what way that has to do with colonization.
USB everywhere is nice because you can use the same charger for all kind of devices and dont have to carry multiple with you.
The different kind of specs for usb cables is unfortunate, but you can just buy the highest spec ones and only use them.
It was only 2.5 years between Apple's first device with Lightning (iPhone 5 in September 2012) and their first device with USB-C (12" Macbook in April 2015). It's not like Lightning had a huge track record at that point they just made a decision that they had switched connectors once and didn't want to turn around and do it again. Kind of understandable, but I'm glad to not have Lightning anymore.
Failure to have clear cable capability marking from the start is too bad though, if I needed a high speed USB cable longer than 6" (probably included with a hard drive enclosure or similar) I'm not sure if I own one, and if I do I have no idea which cable it is.