It's not always immediately obvious - even in retrospect - why one technology was preferred over another. Perhaps the price was the decisive factor, or perhaps the additional effort required to achieve minimal benefits was considered too high and convenience triumphed. Paradigm shifts are not necessarily rational, but if you make the area of investigation large enough, the overall advantage will be evident in hindsight. You may know these ideas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom_of_the_crowd