Purpose of 1K Series Resistors Between PIC18 Output and 74HC244 Buffer Inputs?

I am trying to understand a design that somebody made.
there is a PIC18 microcontroler with outputs connected to a 74HC244 which serves as a buffer to the loads.
For some reason there are 1K resistors in series between the PIC outputs and the 74HC inputs, and I do not understand their purpose.
The only purpose I can think of would be to protect the PIC output in case the 74HC input got shorted for some reason and the designer thought it would be complicated/expensive to replace the PIC if it got damaged (the card would anyhow have to be replaced and/or repaired).
This card was designed 15 years ago -  maybe PIC prices were high enough to justify this.

Any other reason I did not think of?

Are the PIC and HC244 powered by the same power supply? If not, the resistors may have been an attempt to prevent damage if/when the power supplies are not both active.
Another possibility is to prevent overshoot from damaging the HC244. In that case, I'd expect the resistors to be much lower value (less than 100 Ohm).
The resistors would also reduce the chances of glitches on the PIC outputs from reaching the HC244.

ThanksYour last suggestion makes the most sense for this design.Both are on the same supply, and in this design where there is a potential for damage to inputs (e.g - inputs from analog sources) there are also clamping diodes.

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