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Good ideas/innovations that lost?

One myth that surfaces in innovation history is the faith that good ideas win: if a technology, product or concept is truly better than the status quo it will eventually win because of its goodness.

Many industry veterans love to tell me how often this faith has been broken for them.

But when I ask for examples of good ideas that lost – products that should have won but were out-marketed, out-politicked, out strategized, or lost for other reasons – very few names come up.

In my innovators survey and interviews I’ve heard the same four:

• QWERTY vs. DVORAK
• Beta vs. VHS
• Windows vs. Macintosh
• U.S. Street cars vs. automobiles

Can anyone name other examples of good products, or good ideas that lost, despite being “superior” to their competitors?

It’s fine if you dont have hard evidence, I can track that down myself. (And yes, I know defining goodness is entirely subjective – I’m leaving it all up to you)