Re: removing support for old platforms

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Wed, 09 Jan 2008 06:37:42 -0500 Richard Stallman <address@hidden> wrote: 

RS>     Well, it would be a good joke to read something like
RS>     * Emacs is now prepared to run on the following machines and systems,
RS>     which are expected to be available in some distant future: ...

RS> Yes that would be funny.  But I think "distant past" is what fits the
RS> convention of Antinews better.  The convention is not that we call the
RS> past the future.  Rather, we call it the past, but we talk about it in
RS> the ways normally used for talking about the future.

RS> The full list of discontinued platforms is not necessary for the joke
RS> and would just be dull.  Maybe we could mention two or three.
RS> Or maybe the joke doesn't need any specific names:

RS>     * Emacs 21 supports many additional systems and computers
RS>     that will be available in the distant past.

Here's my suggestion, avoiding "past" or "future" and keeping the
into-the-past idea of anti.texi:

@item
Great news!  Emacs 21 now supports an amazing number of systems and
computers soon to be available: [condensed list of systems and
computers]

I think having the full list is funnier, but it must be condensed so the
reader's eyes will glaze over and they will skip to the next item.
Otherwise it's annoying, if you can't easily skip forward when you're
tired of the joke (as I'm sure most of us are :).

Ted