VHS vs. Beta, basically. Tcl and Perl are about the same age, approximately similar in function, approximately similar in ease-of-use, and really the world cou

VHS vs. Beta, basically. Tcl and Perl are about the same age, approximately similar in function, approximately similar in ease-of-use, and really the world could have gone either way. Just as with VHS and Beta, each had their strengths and weaknesses, but ultimately it came down to an avalanche of the "network effect" - everyone was using VHS so everyone used VHS / everyone was using Perl so everyone used Perl.