Assuming that you are a hack who doesn’t care, yes.
If you are an engineer because that is what lights your fire, then no.
"Then there’s the opposite mindset… if it’s there, why not put it to use? "
because I may just want to run 8 things at one time, and if all of them are absolute crap it fucks up my machine, fucks up the other things running, and wastes my time by doing things poorly.
there isnt a valid excuse for a crappy piece of software.
winamp being my favorite example. why the fuck would you PAY for a piece of shit like realplayer when you have a totally free program that does its thing infinitly better and has loads of FREE plugins and support?
when you have GDivX player that runs windows media, realplayer, AND quicktime, for free, why the fuck would you pay for any of the 3 crappy ones?
good software is like a good car. your argument is the same as saying its ok to put out a car that works poorly, has a bad safty record, and is just a piece of shit in general because it would be a waste of time to do it right the first time.
if its done right the first tiem it takes a bit longer, but it means that the Millions of times that software is used takes less time each time its run. the manufacturers extra 3weeks = less than the end users months to years of use when you stack it up like that. companys putting out crap are basically saying that saving a few bucks on production costs is worth costing the users (combined users mind you) assloads of money in wasted time.
good god its late and I am ranting.