Re: basic question: going back to dired

[Tim X]

"Lennart Borgman (gmail)" <lennart.borgman@gmail.com> writes:

> Tim X wrote:
>>> Agreed. I don't like Xah Lee's proposals. But I think that he's right
>>> that Emacs' use of outdated terminology sometimes hampers adoption by
>>> new users.
>>>
>> so what? I'm not trying to be argumentative, but what does it really
>> matter if new users have a bit of a learning curve? 
>
> I think many have tried to explain why it matters. Please see the archive
> in Emacs Devel and other places.
>

I've seen the arguements, but don't agree they are sound. 

>> While probably sounding
>> provocative, how many new uses who are not prepared to learn emacs
>> terminology are actually going to contribute anything?
>
> To understand this I think you have to consider psychology and how our
> brain works.
>
>
Well, my first degree was in psychology and I'd have to say I think
there is very little concrete or definite psychology can offer. There is
little concensus in the field - its closer to philosophy than anything
scientific or factual. It may help in the sense that you can probably
find a theory that supports  your arguement - but at the same time, its
easy to find another one that refutes it. 

My 'feeling' is that worrying too much about learning curves and the
experiences of new users is really short term thinking and really
doesn't buy much. Far better to concentrate on functionality and
extending/pushing the boundries of what can be done or presenting
alternative ways of doing things to the main stream. If what the
software can do makes it stand out, new users will be willing to go
through the pain of a learning curve. 

I just don't see any real benefit in trying to make emacs
'popular'. Make it unique and stnad out instead.

Tim

-- 
tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au