Arguing worse-is-better for something like Unix is fair enough. Arguing it for things like the IBM PC, or Web 2.0--massive steps backward, taken purely due to

Arguing worse-is-better for something like Unix is fair enough. Arguing it for things like the IBM PC, or Web 2.0--massive steps backward, taken purely due to the circumstances of whichever corporate overlord happened to dominate at the time--is denial. The web won not because it was efficient, or well designed, or worse-is-better, or even sane. The web won because it was the closest thing we had in computing to a detente. If we could write a native app without having to worry about getting squished by Apple or Google or Microsoft as soon as we start to make waves, we'd have left HTTP/HTML as the same old docs protocol/format TBL cooked-up.