[openrisk]

It sort of proves the point that certain technology choices are not the result of some monotonic "progress" towards a theoretical optimal but rather a random walk under stochastic influences in what we might call "conventions space".

Serious randomness is induced by the decisions of whatever entities happen to be influential, typically (but not exclusively) by having the most successful economic model. Causally that earnings model need not be at all related with the tech. After all, most 'big tech' is not actually selling the tech itself.

People mostly code for money so they are attracted and incentivized to use the more visible money-making conventions (be part of wining teams) irrespective of particular technical merit.

But there are additional more objective dimensions that complicate things. E.g. SPA conventions did solve a user experience problem at the time. It was not pure lemming behavior. In retrospect we know that it could have been solved otherwise but at that time we didn't.