It's quite valid. I think the biggest hurdle is noticing that when you mess up hard with git the hurdles are affecting everyone down the line, possibly irrevers

It's quite valid. I think the biggest hurdle is noticing that when you mess up hard with git the hurdles are affecting everyone down the line, possibly irreversibly. If you mess up with mercurial, the hurdles are affecting YOU locally really hard, possibly irreversibly. That's probably why it's the main reason git people hate hg and hg people are confused about git, until they really mess up, and outside people view hg as much more limited than git. I don't really have a side in any metaphorical battle because I've had to set up CI/CD for a mix of git and mercurial, but simply giving in to the social pressure of the tech world I've become more acquainted with git over time than with hg as a junior and I can see value in both. However at a higher level (organization level especially), it's critically important to look at the trade-off that the choice gives you. I'm trying to be objective here in saying that unless mercurial gains more traction in the world, fortunately or unfortunately you should stick heavily with git.