as someone who used the IEC standard in brazil: it is complete rubish.<p>you end up with almost 7 variations of the damn thing. it is the only country where you need adapters in the same house!<p>also, it got &#x27;adopted&#x27; without any consideration for the people. suddenly, the standard changed. everyone was pissed, but nobody wanted to get fines in new buildings.<p>and more ironically, the OLD standard, was compatible with europe and USA and japan! it was the perfect standard for IEC to adopt, not the other way around.