&quot;This last statement is demonstrably false. Many people care about good software. Just like they care about good cars, good vacations, good hot dogs.&quot;<p><i>i</i> care about good software. i know plenty of people that do as well, so you&#x27;re right that my statement was demonstrably false, but the point is people who pay don&#x27;t care about quality software. that shouldn&#x27;t be a controversial thing. obviously they care about their costs and the value they get out of the software, not the invisible quality of it. this is my experience, at least. like i said, i&#x27;m a mediocre developer. maybe my customers aren&#x27;t as discerning, or they don&#x27;t have very interesting problems to solve.<p>also, it&#x27;s interesting that you characterize being a replaceable cog as the lowest of lows. let&#x27;s be honest, that&#x27;s life. of course i&#x27;m replaceable no matter what my position in a company. if i own a company, that company&#x27;s replaceable. it&#x27;s not a lowly thing to be replaceable, it&#x27;s the nature of things. like they say, the cemetery&#x27;s filled with indispensable men. that&#x27;s not to make every living human being feel lowly, but to help keep perspective.