It's interesting to note that its opposite, "NG" ("no good"), never seemed to have much popularity, but I've seen it show up increasingly often within the past few years.
I've used it for decades in all sorts of contexts. I've converted a few people!
My life has included a lot of equipment, hardware, software, things that needed labeling, I reflect.
Also I am not good about throwing broken things away, thinking maybe I'll want to salvage parts from it later. So a sticker (in recent decades, blue painters tape) with "19981105 NG" becomes a very useful thing, eventually.
NG was (is?) popular Army slang, and American soldiers brought it to Okinawa. From there it spread throughout Japan, leading to its inclusion (stylized the same as OK) in emoji sets, which are historically Japanese.
