> They've been guilty of this practice for as long as they've been making electronics - I think it was the NES or the SNES that used a standard barrel jack and voltage, but reversed the polarity, with no circuit to protect the console.

Is there actually a standard about that? IIRC, recently things have drifted towards "center positive" as customary, but most adapters and devices have the little diagram about how they're wired for a reason.