Sure, that's one possibility. Other possibilities: Or maybe, just maybe, they didn't understand the pros and cons of rewriting a mature codebase from scratch.

Sure, that's one possibility. Other possibilities: Or maybe, just maybe, they didn't understand the pros and cons of rewriting a mature codebase from scratch. Or perhaps they couldn't make the lisp code into an indecipherable mess that made them look intelligent for having written it like they could with C++. Or perhaps they believed that too many parens would make the curly brace Gods smite them.