My theory is evolution. The "more advanced" idea has higher up-front costs so the cheaper, worse idea gets used, iterated upon until it's so polished that it's

My theory is evolution. The "more advanced" idea has higher up-front costs so the cheaper, worse idea gets used, iterated upon until it's so polished that it's better than the infant stages of the better idea (the better idea has the potential to be even more polished with investment, but never will be) so everybody uses it and now we're stuck with it...