Roger,
I can see where you are coming from, and i can understand your frustration.
I suppose i just find it handy for my perticular needs, as i use it when testing images before i set the camera off on it's merry way to do 20 or 30 timed shots.
I will have the shoestring lead hooked to the camera, with an extension cable, but not to the lappy, as yet, then i take one image, let the camera do it's business, and when finished push the shoestring lead into the USB port.
It quickly downloads one image, so i can check for over exposure, drift, or anything really, I'll do this until I'm happy with the result.
Now that I've looked, and say yep, that will be OK, i set the camera to do it's bit, and take as many shots as I need.
Roger I probably do strange things when it comes to imaging, but at the end of the day I'm pretty happy with the results, so I suppose that is all that matters, It works for me.
How boring it would be if we did it all the same.
Leon