Very true. What I was referring to is the (still hotly debated) market battle between steam powered and gasoline powered automobiles around the time of the great depression. From what I've read, the steam powered automobiles had, at that time, better efficiency, faster acceleration, etc. However, the steam auto manufacturers tried to focus on the luxury market (which essentially disappeared during the thirties), while Henry Ford and his Model T were targeting the everyman. The horrible misjudgment of the steam auto manufacturers, combined with a drought that dried up a lot of steam engine water supplies, combined with the decreasing number of horse troughs (from which steam car owners had traditionally "filled up" on water) led to a Betamax vs. VCR type situation wherein the better technology (again, it is still hotly debated what constitutes "better" in this sense- some sources say the steam powered car would have lost out eventually anyway, as gas engines were more easily made more efficient, but I digress) lost out to the lesser technology due largely to non-market forces.