> One of the differences is that some systems of yore looked more rooted in the engineering mindset, whereas today some perceive a way overly "excessive" (in fact, simply wrongly headed) focus on the dumbest specimen (and not to help it but to celebrate it).

I think this is largely due to the increasing pervasiveness of computers. "Back in the day" the consumers of a software package were likely either very skilled people, or people who were paid to use the software as part of their job, and thus would receive training. Nowadays, there are many more types of computer user.