Re: Changes for emacs 28

[Gregory Heytings]

> This is exactly the point I was putting in question: My take is that 
> popularity is part of a giant feedback loop, so it's *both*, a symptom 
> and a cause. And a (non-negligible) set of forces driving that feedback 
> loop are the marketing departments of big corps [1]. They wouldn't be 
> doing their jobs if it weren't so.

This is not clear at all IMO.  When users choose to use VS Code or Atom or 
Emacs or ..., they choose between a number of free (as in beer) products. 
In such cases I tend to think that marketing plays little if any role, and 
that it's the quality of the product that matters.  More precisely, not 
the absolute quality, but the quality for newcomers.  As Chad wrote: "it's 
much easier/more intuitive to get started" or "it's quick/easy/obvious how 
to get it to 'it just-works'".

> Failing to see this leads to this over-eager "how can we change Emacs to 
> make it more popular" thing, instead of to a more balanced view, where 
> potential changes are judged against a more complete set of principles 
> and goals (newcomer friendliness surely being one of them!).

IMO, it's pointless to discuss whether Emacs should be changed, or how 
potential changes should be judged.  In fact I don't understand why such 
discussions/debates take place: Emacs is likely the most flexible of all 
available editors, and can be adapted to all imaginable needs.

So the only thing that should change in Emacs is that it should be made 
easier (even more: as easy as possible) to customize and understand for 
newcomers.