Why are there so many different regular expression dialects?

Question

I\'m wondering why there have to be so many regular expression dialects. Why does it seem like so many languages, rather then reusing a tried and true dialect, seem bent on

Answer 1

For the same reason we have so many languages. Some people will be trying to improve their tools and at the same time others will be resistant to change. C/C++/Java/C# anyone?