No, the dichotomy is better described as r-selection (worse-is-better) versus K-selection (the right thing)[0].
For a practical example of worse-is-better software becoming popular, look at the World Wide Web in relationship to Project Xanadu[1]. For a practical example of The Right Thing software being popular, look at Python. The argument is broadly that New Jersey worse-is-better produces software more likely to become successful than the MIT right-thing approach. That doesn't mean that worse-is-better is always more successful, or that the MIT approach can't produce successful software, or that there's not a time and/or place for both approaches.
For a practical example of worse-is-better software becoming popular, look at the World Wide Web in relationship to Project Xanadu[1]. For a practical example of The Right Thing software being popular, look at Python. The argument is broadly that New Jersey worse-is-better produces software more likely to become successful than the MIT right-thing approach. That doesn't mean that worse-is-better is always more successful, or that the MIT approach can't produce successful software, or that there's not a time and/or place for both approaches.
[0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R/K_selection_theory [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Xanadu