Camera manufacturers don't care about the old photographers.
They aren't the future of their industry.
Camera manufacturers are trying to create and maintain young photographers.
They want to drive the point home to the youth that a cellphone is not a replacement for a camera.

The camera corps will take on all the previous DSLR customers who see that...
The rest? They don't care about them...they can keep their stuck in 3rd gear bodies forever.
Camera corps. want a new base...for their future.

Do you believe everything that you read? Wider throat diameter will allow a larger aperture but whether the lens is better for that depends on other factors. Shorter flange distance is totally irrelevant - a 50mm lens MUST be the same distance from the sensor regardless of what body its on. Engineers don't design lenses - they design bridges and roads etc. Designs of prime lens has been fully explored and known for decades - the quality of such lenses dependant on the quality of the glass and the accuracy of the grind. Zoom lenses however with their many elements are where computer aided design has helped - back in the 60's where we only had film there were few zooms available beyond 3x. My first camera kit - a Pentax, had a 35mm prime, a 50mm prime and a 135mm telephoto prime (cost me an arm and a leg!) - not a zoom in sight. Todays monster zooms of +60x with their many elements on small sensor cameras are where computer aided design is very necessary. Finally "better" is a subjective assessment. To say a sharper lens is better depends on the use, user and viewer - also whether mirrorless is better than DSLR

Wow! Do you believe everything you write? That is so uninformed, first commenting on lens design factors that you have no understanding of, then claiming that engineers only build roads and bridges. Are you aware that there are many different kinds of engineers, including optical and electrical engineers? Both of which would have had a part in designing lenses. Also, a 50mm lens does not have to be 50 millimeters from the sensor. The rear nodal point of the lens is 50mm from the sensor when focused to infinity. Even prime lenses aren’t just a simple single optical element. Multiple elements are used in primes to correct distortion and color aberrations. There’s a lot more that goes into lens design than you know.