In fact, your own quote speaks to this: when you're thinking like a philosopher, it's easy to also speak like a philosopher; what takes effort is to speak like a peasant (and we've all had similar experiences with technical jargon in our own field, and having to translate that to a layperson). You can certainly accuse them of not having tried hard to translate it to simpler language, but it's an unwarranted accusation to say they're "trying very hard to sound smart" when they're using language that is similar to their own thought processes, and hence is probably easier to write in.
Reminds me of a scene in "I, Robot" (the movie):
Del Spooner: So, Dr. Calvin, what exactly do you do around here?
Dr. Susan Calvin: My general fields are advanced robotics and psychiatry. Although, I specialize in hardware-to-wetware interfaces in an effort to advance U.S.R.'s robotic anthropomorphization program.
Del Spooner: So, what exactly do you do around here?
Dr. Susan Calvin: I make the robots seem more human.
Del Spooner: Now wasn't that easier to say?
Dr. Susan Calvin: Not really. No.
It's technical, and sometimes technical writing isn't written perfectly. That doesn't mean it's due to willful obtusity, or trying to sound smart.
There's this quote from a famous (in strictly relative terms) judge on the German Supreme Court: A good lawyer or judge will, according to him, "think like a philosopher and talk like a peasant!".
Of the three other possibilities, two are still fine. But trying too hard is a mortal sin.