Why is wget still shipped as the default download manger, whereas there's richer apps [closed]

aria2c has invaluable features like:

• Segmented downloading
• Metalink Support
• Download multiple files simultaneously
• Multiple connections downloading
• Torrent support with chunk checksum validation

which I believe don't exist in wget, and the download acceleration based on multiple connections downloading is the most crucial option.

But aria2c is only an example and there should be several potent rivals with more options than wget.

What could be the reason for still using wget? Are there any hidden benefits?

PS. As a new user I just met aria2c last night and had the question about two different competitors; I'm not related to aria2c in any way. Please don't be prejudiced.

Aria2 probably is objectively better, but there are a few reasons wget has (and will likely retain) the crown as default downloading application in Ubuntu:

• wget is tested and omnipresent. It's actually older than some of the moderators.
• Because it's almost 20, everything and its brother depends directly upon wget. It's not as easy as just replacing one with the other. You would need a legacy script to interface between apps wanting wget and that request being sent through Aria2.
• wget is also smaller, approximately 20% of the size of Aria2. This matters for default applications because of the CD size.
• While Aria2 may do everything, wget is plenty for most jobs.
• There's also the question of multithreaded downloads being antisocial. They can hammer a server for new connections which isn't always desirable. Modern internet connections cope fine with single-threaded downloads.

If you're just doing stuff for yourself, feel free to use whatever you like. Aria2 seems capable enough and it's probably even objectively better... But it has a lot of history to overcome before it replaces anything.

If you want to pursue this and get Ubuntu to replace wget with Aria2 as the default for Ubuntu, you'd have to talk to the Ubuntu developers on the ubuntu-devel mailing list. Expect resistance. You'll have to make arguments overcoming the above and you may have to do some of the work up front (eg providing a legacy handoff script as a wget binary replacement). It's possible, I'm sure it is but I won't lie and say it'll be easy.

The reason everybody uses wget is slightly cyclical. It's everywhere and everybody knows it. Until Aria2 (which I can barely type twice without spelling it incorrectly) is as omnipresent as wget, experienced users are going to keep using what they know if it's good enough. There's a lot of muscle memory to overcome.