I think in the 90's the motivation was the same. Sure for some folks it was just about being lazy and only supporting one browser, but I think for a lot of peop

I think in the 90's the motivation was the same. Sure for some folks it was just about being lazy and only supporting one browser, but I think for a lot of people it was taking advantage of CSS and Javascript only available in one browser. In those days a lot of the functionality that we take for granted as cross-browser was only available on the bleeding edge of one or another browser. I think for a mainstream audience, those badges were more appropriate then than they are now.