Sorry, Ajay

The co-inventor of the USB (as he corrects people when they call him the inventor; he says he had the idea, and led the team at Intel that developed it in the late 90s) is not a well known name and didn’t directly make money off it.

The lack of fame is probably because Intel, which owns the patent, made it open and free, which was smart, since it just made sure computers were more usable and more people bought them. And Ajay Bhatt has been, he says, amply rewarded at Intel, where he worked for 25 years.

I listened to a couple of interviews with him, and he seems a modest chap, so he probably wouldn't have named a company after himself. But imagine if he had indeed become a household name. Perhaps we wouldn’t even call it a USB.

It would be commonly called…

hear me out…

the Bhatt Plug.

Ajay Bhatt did briefly become a celebrity outside the tech world because of a commercial, but he was portrayed by an actor.

The dude is quite a dude.

He's a good sport.

And wicked. “Where is Firewire today?” 🔥🔥🔥 Medic! Emergency here! 🚑🚑🚑

Oh, and ref the bit that has, um, birthed a thousand memes?

Finding the G-spot is great and all, but life would be good if I could plug the USB device in the right way first try.

— Peter Griffin (@zigzackly) September 2, 2021

It was a trade-off.