alt Hacker NewsMercurial is one of the many sad stories of far better technology being forgotten by the popularity contest juggernaut of something else.
I still use mercurial for all my personal project where I don't need to care what anyone else thinks. It is pleasant to use good tools, just like I like to buy top quality rachets or such.
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Is git really far worse technology than mercurial? I’ve used both for years and to be honest they are pretty similar. What important capabilities does hg have that git does not? Maybe you can argue that hg is more ergonomic, but that’s just polish it doesn’t mean the tech is far better…
My recollection is that it was more of a VHS vs Betamax story than one being strictly superior. When a lot of people were making their decisions, Git was a lot faster in ways that mattered. IIRC, shortly after a lot of places picked Git, Mercurial cut a release that significantly improved performance.
And in a similar vein, Darcs. It unfortunately couldn’t compete with Git on performance, but the user experience is on a whole another level.
Mercurial wasn't the better technology, though. The UX is almost the same as git, diverging in ways that are arguably worse, but the tools were written in much slower Python (initially, and for many years after).
Can't comment on Mercurial, but "for all my personal project where I don't need to care what anyone else thinks" I am using Fossil. Ever since that decision, I've felt a bit, well, held back, or rather, I don't feel quite as comfortable as I do at home when I have to use Git.