GitHub made git popular, and git made GitHub popular. So the major mercurial hosts (especially bucket) decided that it wasn't worth supporting even for their e

GitHub made git popular, and git made GitHub popular. So the major mercurial hosts (especially bucket) decided that it wasn't worth supporting even for their existing users. That was the mail in Mercurial's coffin. Google also decided to shut down their Google Code. Git's appeal is that it is more flexible and has every feature you might want, allowing people to do whatever they wish whether it's pretty or not. As long as it works, people can look past the ergonomics. GUIs and AI shield most people from the UI.