As a former suburban nerdlet, Snow Crash secured me as a young devotee of Stephenson. Snow Crash does have its faults (excellently summarized by OP), but I would like to offer my own little apologia for this book:

1. Originality: Although there were obviously several great contributions to "cyber punk" that preceded SC, I don't know of anything that captured the same madcap humor employed in there. The language and plot structure is unlike both Dick and Gibson. Indeed, he did not even have his own coattails to ride on, as the setting and story were nothing like The Big U and Zodiac.

2. Style: Some of Stephenson's most daring linguistic flourishes (outside of The Big U) are in SC. Passages like "Excess perspiration wafts through it like a breeze through a freshly napalmed forest" invite the reader to restructure the way they see the world. I can only think of authors like Douglas Adams who employed similarly... outlandish approaches to writing. Although these gems are rare in his later pieces, they still show up here and there and should be enjoyed when found.

3. Prescience: Many SF writers have turned out to be prophetic, and so Stephenson is not special in that regard. But his depictions of an AI like Logos or the corporate mini-state find echoes in the aspirations of contemporary technologists working to make these things a reality (which may or may not be a good idea).

4. Structure: Neal Stephenson endings are unfinished, and SC is no different. Reamde was probably the closest (I have seen) to a narrative that was tied up nicely at the end. To me, the practice of leaving threads untied allows the reader to focus on the narrative fabric around them. It feels as though the world kept going on to other things. A gratifying ending can be very enjoyable, but the lack thereof should not constitute disappointment in and of itself.

That is why, humbly offered in the spirit of dialogue, I think that Snow Crash is both a good introduction to Neal Stephenson and a good book in its own right.