Most of core software developers tend to brush off ‘user interface’ thingies. ‘HTML developers’ are looked down upon by people working on the cool backend technologies. The mere fact that UI designers get paid far less than their backend counterparts is a proof of my assertion.

Goes on to prove the geeks have it all wrong when it comes to selling!

Good, slick user interface is quite hard to achieve. It requires vision, imagination, training in human psychology AND a quite a bit of technical wizardy. Try navigating all corners of CSS and then make yourself cross browser. You’ll know what I’m talking about. Apple is where it is today simply because of it’s fantastic user interface. There’s nothing one could not do with good old PCs before Macs made a comeback. Yet people rushed to pay extra dollars to get the coolest computer on earth. Ease of use ? Stylish? Marketing? Status Symbol? Be different syndrome? You can call it what you like but if it were not for the beatiful interface, Apple wouldn’t have survived it’s comeback for this long.

Contrary to popular wisdom, Looks ARE everything. People are shallow. The managers controlling the money purse are technologically shallow and ill-informed. Show ‘em your multi-threaded, fault-tolerant, highly scalable database which has an inferior look and feel and you’re sure to lose that sale. Absolutely. It’s guaranteed.
Pay attention to usability and some amount of eye-candy right from the beginning. Even your prototypes have to look slick, even with reduced functionality, if you’ve any hopes of raising capital or generating interest. Don’t discount the shallowness of the masses.