The Modernization of Emacs

[Kaldrenon]

Just so everyone's clear:

Nothing he has said makes much sense, if any.

He's talking about advocacy of something unique and powerful by -
making it less unique and powerful-. Not merely catering to the lowest
common denominator, but promoting something as better -by making it
worse-. Who does that?

Imagine that a man invents a vehicle that's far safer and more
maneuverable than any existing vehicle. Imagine that the increased
safety comes from the fact that it has five wheels. How incredibly
stupid would it be for that inventor to then say, "I'm going to
convince people to buy my new vehicle, which is safer thanks to this
fifth wheel. But in order to market it, I'll take the fifth wheel off,
so it's more familiar and comfortable for them."

I'm very, very new to emacs. I used it a little this past year in
college, but I didn't try at all to delve into its features. I'm
starting that process now, and frankly, the thought of it changing -
already- upsets me. I don't feel like the program ought to change in
order to accommodate me. I'm excited about the prospect of mastering
something new and different. The fewer resemblances to the common-
denominator, extra-friendly stuff I've worked with in the past, the
better.

Emacs' uniqueness may hurt its adoption rate, but it still has plenty
of users, who are all perfectly happy with how things are done.

-Andrew