It depends on the app. It doesn't work on Finder, but does on Chrome, Sparrow etc

Non universal behavior in a universal button is a pretty sad state of affairs.

It IS universal behaviour. The green button maximises the window to the optimal size as dictated by the application.

For a browser this could be full screen. For a word processor this could be just enough to see the page.

For me, the algorithm is too opaque and the results too inconsistent across apps to reason about. You could say, "This is consistent behavior, it sends off a request to mechanical turk for the optimal dimensions then resizes the window when the job is done." And you'd be right that the behavior would be universal, but it's not universal in the sense of consistency where the user will be able to guess what is going to happen if they press a button, and additionally want the result that they get.

That's because the algorithm is implemented by the application's developers, not Apple.

The universal behavior is to consistently behave inconsistently?

Which makes OP's claim of inconsistency even stronger.