I’m confused by your example. Prior to the printing press, hand written books (or any reading material) would not have been accessible to the masses; hence the low literacy rates.

Furthermore, while no one was saying “I’m going to go buy WinZip now”, many were lining up to buy WinRAR?

Finally, the issue with “high quality hand crafted software” is that software and similar projects are made possible through engineering not through artistry.

Simply put:

"Engineering is achieving function while avoiding failure." — Henry Petroski