They are using markup where they shouldn't be. If, in word, I type italic text using stars, that just means I'm wrong in that context. Similarly, if I use escapes, such that I expect \n to add a new line, I'm just wrong. That doesn't make it less useful where it originated.

Edit: I amusingly had to try twice to get the italic text there. Double stars did not bold. I don't know how to escape the stars.

Word has never had markup though. Nor have most people ever written markup. Why would they be trying to write markup?

I would wager most folks that use word have never been the two space crowd. Especially not people that learn on word.

Just like most people that write on paper don't leave extra space after a sentence. We do indent paragraphs commonly. At least, if you are writing somewhere you want it indented, it is incumbent on you to do so. :)