The Modernization of Emacs

[Twisted]

On Jun 21, 11:11 am, Lew <l... at lewscanon.nospam> wrote:
> Joel J. Adamson wrote:
> > My point is that I'm the sort of person that has a mind set up for
> > Emacs.  I had none of the difficulties that someone else might have,
> > who's used to other kinds of software.
>
> > However, I'll also point out that my wife has used Emacs a couple
> > times, and she's never done more than point and click with a computer,
> > and she's had no frustration whatsoever.
>
> A new user of two hours' experience.  A father of a six-year old whose child
> hums along happily with emacs.  A computer widow who "had no frustration
> whatsoever" with it.
>
> To the claim that "emacs is too hard for the beginner" we have a mounting pile
> of steaming evidence that refutes.

It's a steaming pile of something, of that I am sure, but I don't
think "evidence" is the word I'd use to describe it. The word I'm
thinking of IS eight letters long, but it starts with "b" instead of
"e"...

I find these anecdotes liberally sprinkled into this thread frankly
unbelievable. Either they are not using the same software I understand
"emacs" to refer to, or someone somewhere is simply lying. Or maybe
there's a bunch of prodigies around and they all picked now to pipe
up? We can't design software or any other tool to cater exclusively to
a handful of Mozarts, though, unless there's no reason to believe
anyone outside that small and exclusive club will ever have a use for
it.

> To the claim that the help is too hard to use comes the evidence that three
> simple keystroke patterns are all one needs to know, and anecdotal evidence of
> the help system's utility.

Utility is nothing without usability. In particular, no matter how
much useful content the help might have, the fact that when the
document window has the focus the help is always open to the section
on switching windows rather puts a crimp in the actual usability of
that information. The only times you can use it and the only times you
can read it are non-overlapping sets.

> Some will refuse to face the truth.  To the open-minded, let the facts speak
> for themselves.

A few anecdotes prove nothing. A first year statistics 101 dropout
knows that much.