[zharknado]

> Where are all these examples of products that have succeeded despite not valuing quality?

Windows products since the 2000s. They may have won on quality early on but today succeed mainly via compliance controls and switching costs IMO.

Also big legacy B2B digital systems of record. Pretty much any ERP. Can’t say firsthand but this is my impression of SAP products and Oracle products. Also Encompass, the system of record for a large majority of the U.S. mortgage market. Most medical software.

There are a lot of recordkeeping systems that have a massive moat from handling decades worth of nuance. Their “quality” by modern UX and performance standards is very poor but they handle all the nooks and crannies of their industry.

[johnnyanmac]

You're correct, so maybe there's a caveat. You need to have quality in the beginning during market capture mode. Once the customer is entrenched, you can then slack or even enshittify your product to some point. You're playing with friction that may lose the business, but comfortable customers can tolerate quite a bit for the familiar.

[sanderjd]

Yep, this version of the argument does resonate.