"Worse is Better" is just an inaccurate way of saying it. More accurately, "It's the Culture, Stupid!" No, this is an oversimplification. Richard Gabriel's or

"Worse is Better" is just an inaccurate way of saying it. More accurately, "It's the Culture, Stupid!" No, this is an oversimplification. Richard Gabriel's original essay[1] says it best near the end: The lesson to be learned from this is that it is often undesirable to go for the right thing first. It is better to get half of the right thing available so that it spreads like a virus. Once people are hooked on it, take the time to improve it to 90% of the right thing. 1- http://www.jwz.org/doc/worse-is-better.html http://www.jwz.org/doc/worse-is-better.html