There is a difference though. When we talk about AD&D, most of us here have hundreds, if not thousands of hours of play time experience to draw on. We played the HELL out of AD&D. Marathon sessions lasting entire weekends. Devouring every piece of D&D material you can get your hands on over and over again. So on and so forth.
And, when I make a statement about AD&D, I'm usually very, very careful to couch it as being my personal experience with the system and not a "truth" about the system itself. I don't always succeed, fair enough. But, I do try. Because, like you say, there was a "diversity of play" "that could lead to anything".