not in spite of it

I agree.

Everyone can write in Markdown already, I've seen people physically write asterisks for emphasis on paper (edit: I'm not saying markdown came first...). But not everyone can see it rendered.

This is mostly addressing the latter, so that we don't all have to just imagine what the formatting looks like, and so that it can be used in settings where currently it would fit perfectly well, but it isn't acceptable because it isn't rendered.

I'm perfectly comfortable reading a raw Markdown file. That doesn't really fly in a business setting. or in most places where people want formatting. There's a reason people don't just write [bold] in the middle of their resume/report/paper and expect the reader to visualize it with their mind's eye.

The problem is that everybody knows Markdown, not everyone knows that it is Markdown or that Markdown files exist. And even if they do, they still can't use it because support isn't as ubiquitous as the formatting syntax. Making MD files more accessible would mean that people can use the knowledge they already have and learn more and be able to use it places where they want to.

Currently, people who could otherwise just use markdown are forced to use proprietary formats that are supported by their organizations or that they can expect the recipient open, like a a docx or PDF