It always depends on actual situation!

In an application without micro, the only way to debounce is by hardware: E.g. RC-filter + Schmitt-trigger and everything is fine.

But in a microcontroller application, where PCB area is highly limited, why not debounce by software? This is also very nice.

Very probably I would never use such sophisticated chips like MAX6818. Because I see no real need for these expensive chips. More, I have learned in my daily work, not to fetch these 'smart' chips, when there's no second source and third source availability. If availability is not guaranteed, this could me catapult out of business. And I will never, never, never again trust on availability of chips from MAXIM.......

Kai