A maxim used to explain such things as
the success of UNIX and C
the failure of Lis P.
the success of the World Wide Web vs Xana Du and other pre-web Hyper Text systems.
(Here failure and success mean market penetration (Adoption Life Cycle) or mindshare.)
Some varying key points
people will sacrifice "quality" (as previously defined) for new features/benefits (lower-resolution digitized music in exchange for easier sharing/carrying, lower cost): Disruptive Innovation
- the simpler the thing, the more people will do/use it
things designed for simple interaction lead to Network Effects
Most often associated with Jamie Zawinski, but he got it from Richard PGabriel.
Victor Lombardi points to Clay Shirky piece in praise of evolvable systems - Iterat Ive is good
one approach toward Disruptive Innovation?
This doesn't mean that everything that seems worse is actually better, of course! Perl Sucks, and so does Yo Mama.