You clearly didn't read the article, and clearly don't understand how prevalent the MIDI 1.0 specification is today. MIDI 2.0 is a very recent development (this year LOL!) and has yet to be commercially adopted. The 1984 design is what is largely in use today. At the time of initial development, commercial synthesizers, not sound cards, were the intended generators of sound utilizing MIDI:
https://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/juno106.php.