"So how do you explain the likes of MySpace vs Facebook? "
I wouldn't call the user-facing part of site like MySpace or Facebook "software" - they have a very basic UI and very basic functionalities. And users may never seen server-side bugs unless they are really huge ones (as MySpace losing all songs..). And being "free" means most users accepts lower quality.
FB became a fashion for a while, it was cunningly promoted - with many media outlets promoting it a lot - and I'm sure it wasn't because of naivety.
Anyway, web applications themselves made the public used to lower quality software. Being built on many layers of bad designs and code (why cookies exist - and moreover are implemented so badly?), often by cheap developers using ill-designed languages, they brought software development back tens of years.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
