>You can ship all the code you want, but even if it's lots of mediocre code, it's still mediocre.

The code might be mediocre, but that doesn't mean that the product is mediocre. Pristine, beautiful code, that forms part of a bad product, is like a soprano singing the most god-awful piece of bilge anyone has ever heard. Doesn't matter how good her voice is if the song is rubbish and makes everyone cringe.