This got into negative territory, but I was being serious.
Define "good." Is quality a thing just defined by code style and properness, or is it defined as fitness for a purpose, connection to human use and usefulness, usability or function, or lack of defects to the end user?
Define "software." Is software just code, or does it also include the experience the code generates for the user? Is software only considered in terms of what developers of software are interested in, or does it include what users need and want?
Of course Linux kernel developers are only interested in narrow definitions of those things, and that's surely part of the problem. It's good to think about what "good software" really means, in my opinion.
Developers are also users, and a part of the application they use is the source code. Having good quality source code benefits all users, not just developers. Linux is where it is today because of the quality of the code. Things like "use and usefulness, usability or function" have different meanings to a developer looking at the source code.
Define "good." Is quality a thing just defined by code style and properness, or is it defined as fitness for a purpose, connection to human use and usefulness, usability or function, or lack of defects to the end user?
Define "software." Is software just code, or does it also include the experience the code generates for the user? Is software only considered in terms of what developers of software are interested in, or does it include what users need and want?
Of course Linux kernel developers are only interested in narrow definitions of those things, and that's surely part of the problem. It's good to think about what "good software" really means, in my opinion.