Re: "About Emacs" menu item?

[Eli Zaretskii]

On 31 Jan 2002, John Paul Wallington wrote:

> There is no reason why selecting the "about Emacs" menu item need
> display the startup-message.  The startup-message tells the user about
> important Help Menu and File Menu items, but doesn't tell an awful lot
> About Emacs.
> 
> When the user has chosen to select the "about Emacs" menu item it is
> fair to assume he is prepared to read a little, and to present him
> with more information.

Actually, the Help->About item is a standard item in most GUI programs, 
and normally all it displays is the version, the copyright, and little 
else.

For example, in a random program I've just chosen, I see:

   - a full name of the program
   - copyright
   - "licensed to <name of the person who bought it>"
   - some free memory information (who knows why)
   - a small button labeled "more info" which, when pressed, displays 
     versions of all the modules/shared libraries used by the program

> Selecting the "about Emacs" menu item could create a new buffer with
> the Emacs logo at the top and then include a couple of paragraphs of
> text about Emacs.  I'm not sure what information Emacs should convey
> to a user about itself, however.

I think this is not what users expect from a "About" item.  Perhaps we 
could add something like the "more info" button, though.