More likely it's the banks that were computerizing early on. If you look at PLs that were available in late 60s / early 70s, COBOL is the one that's most optimized for CRUD and reports, which is largely what the banks wanted. And then once you already have it and it works, why change?
Well currently it would be royalties from licensing it out (the patent is expired so it's technically not needed anymore). There is also a benefit since consumers are more familiar with the word MP3 as opposed to AAC. However I think marketing in the past is much more relevant. I have heard of "MP3 players", but not "AAC" players.
> I have heard of "MP3 players", but not "AAC" players.
Because the latter are called "MP4 players" and the files are meant to have ".m4a" extension. Also because dedicated media player devices stopped being something ordinary people need (because smartphones) sooner than MP4 became a thing.
A truly great tool might as well generalize to the axiomatic method in general. When I've gone through math texts (Euclid's Elements, calculus, topology, etc.) I find it annoying to flip back so much when they are constantly referencing past figures. Even if you write the often used axioms and definitions down, there will still be some that are a pain to access.
I think there's a big opportunity to figure out a way to display these systems in a way no one has done well yet. I'm surprised that if I want to go through Euclid's elements in 2021, it's probably going to be in a pdf or a really basic static webpage. How is there not a super slick app that reveals all kinds of connections in a way only possible with interactive media?
I so happened to have spent yesterday afternoon figuring out mu4e on Emacs, which I'm new to. Figured out IMAP but not sending yet. Worked with gmail with a very simple config file.
