A lot of academics are using tools long since abandoned by their authors (typically because they were written on a research grant, and maintenance doesn't lead

A lot of academics are using tools long since abandoned by their authors (typically because they were written on a research grant, and maintenance doesn't lead to publications, so only bugs that effect their ongoing research ever have any chance of getting fixed) for things like the above. I know several people who have old machines running Mac OS 9 for stuff like this!