Re: "Why is emacs so square?"

[Bob Newell]

> You have a point.  We need to figure out why VSC is so popular, and then
> fill in the areas that Emacs is missing.  A mostly out-of-the-box setup
> probably counts in that area.

In both this and other messages, I get what you're saying and the goal
of making Emacs more accessible and more appealing is laudable and
ambitious, but definitely in the realm of possibility. (I think
/maybe/ some of the discussion is focused toward coding/software
development, and Emacs is much more than that, but I'll accept that
developers make up a big part of the actual and intended audience.)

But keep in mind that I'm old and grumpy and have used Emacs for
literally decades. When I started on Emacs back in the 80s, I knew
nothing. All I had used up to that point was a series of line-oriented
editors similar to 'ed'. Now (the question of graphics put aside in
that pre-graphics era), how did I learn Emacs? I went through the
tutorial carefully and fully. By the end of that I was a fledgling
Emacs user. It was enough for me to be able to do actual work.

Then, as I needed new things, I learned them. There was no internet so
I relied upon the Emacs manuals, which were and are very good
references. I picked up elisp as necessary. And it all worked out. Did
I jump right in and use Emacs out of the box? No. I knew I was making
a long-term investment in doing the tutorial, etc.

So here's the grumpy old man part: I sometimes think that today,
software is expected to fall into the instant gratification category.
A lot of users don't want to have to learn anything, they just want a
perfect out of the box experience. But I think those are conflicting
expectations.

Yes, make Emacs appealing and user friendly. But don't forget that a
masterful tool in the end requires mastery, which can't come for free.
I certainly draw the line at saying Emacs is for everyone. I'm not
saying it's only for some sort of snooty "elite" but I am saying that
it's for those who are willing to learn, seeing some extra work as the
aforementioned long-term investment, and who have the patience reach a
worthy goal a little later rather than right this very minute.


-- 
Bob Newell
Honolulu, Hawai`i

Via Linux/Emacs/Gnus/BBDB.