I think about this a lot, and the conclusion I've come to is that the market (simply meaning the popularity) rewards features and intuitive UI above everything else. I think we've been on this trajectory for some time: getting users with less and less actual computer literacy to do more and more with computers.
The rest are simply modifiers on that value. More intuitive UI allows users to gain value more efficiently. Performance allows users to gain value more efficiency.
Of course, that goes without saying. What I'm adding is the increasingly more computer illiterate expectations of the end consumer deriving the value, and the increasing functional demands he expects at his level of ability to understand the internals.
I wonder if market rules of satisfying user needs and demands is operational here still instead of shoving down things of user's throats ... actually no need to shove, they swallow anything shiny or coming with loud fanfare. It is spectacular what users are willing to work with, wrapping their world around the needs of the poorly made and sometimes even offensive software ...
