FireWire

FireWire was a fast connection standard built for moving data like it actually had somewhere to be, especially in video and audio workflows. For a while it felt like the sleek, professional answer to USB's more basic vibes.

It mattered in creative workflows because it played nicely with camcorders, external drives, and audio gear. If you needed dependable speed instead of vague optimism, FireWire often looked like the smarter pick.

Even when FireWire had technical advantages, USB had the ruder power of being everywhere and costing less.

So FireWire joined the long list of formats that were genuinely good but still got flattened by ecosystem momentum.