The good things about devcoin:

- It's got real interest because of it's ethical nature. It's not going to die any time soon, and isn't based on a meme people will get bored of.
- It requires human effort to earn (as opposed to pure mining). This adds to the ethical nature of the coin.
- It's at a bargain basement price.
- projects are still going ahead and will continue to do so, because people feel good about what they do here.
- a strong sense of community.
- merged mining - the network is as secure as bitcoin.

The bad things about devcoin:

- building devtome is expensive
- the low price might seem like a lack of market interest (although in truth this might be a lack of speculator interest, subject to change).

I think it's a far better long term investment than a short term one.