RE: Rename "window" to "pane" (after Emacs 27)

[Drew Adams]

> > And would we then rename "frame" to "window", which
> > would engender further confusion, especially wrt
> > older versions and all of the existing Emacs
> > collateral outside Emacs proper?
> 
> Exactly!

Oh, and BTW, in the jargon of web browsers and HTML
there is even a notion of "frame" which is, in a way,
akin to an Emacs window: HTML element <frame>.
IOW, in a way, the two terms are swapped, to the
extent that anyone even uses "frame" outside Emacs.
(Element <frame> isn't used much anymore.)

[No, please don't bother to respond saying that the
analogies/correspondences aren't perfect.  The point
is that _confusion_ is probable if we start trying to
switch - and not just for the interim period when only
"window" is renamed.]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_(World_Wide_Web)

> So it will take us 2-3 releases to rename "window" to "pane"
> and then another 2-3 releases to rename "frame" to "window".
> Thus, 10 years from now we will be in compliance with the
> common terminology introduced in 1990-ies.

I think Stefan even said 20 years.  But yeah.

> By then it is quite possible that the whole "window manager"
> paradigm will be obsolete as more and more computing is done
> on mobile devices with full-screen-only windows, where the
> current Emacs terminology makes more sense.

Exactly.  Trying to sync with non-Emacs terminology
from 1994 and the creation of browsers is misguided
in multiple ways.

This is truly a YAGNI, IMO.  I've seen _no_ evidence
that novice Emacs users are taken aback by the Emacs
terminology of "window" and "frame".  It takes about
10 minutes to learn and assimilate the notions.

To me, this is a false, Sky-is-falling!! problem
promoted by some who seriously wonder/worry about an
apparent scarcity of Emacs newbies.  That alarmism
resurfaces here every few years...

And I'm not even convinced of said scarcity.  At
least from my point of view, Emacs is not, and should
not be, in a popularity contest with other editors.

Scarcity of Emacs developers is a different question,
I think.  And the window/frame terminology is in no
sense a hurdle in that regard (again, IMO).

> So... how much effort are we willing to expend on this cosmetic change?
> Don't we have something better to do with our time?