Re: A proposal for a friendlier Emacs

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

   > If the few paragraphs on the splash screen are deemed "too much
   > information" then why would they read any other page?! 
   >
   > Lets not assume that users are that lazy ...

   IMO is quite a realistic scenario, so I'll assume that.

>From my experience, that is absolutley not the case.  It is the first
step to the tutorial, and the manual.

   > We are talking about the splash screen, not a menu.  The suggestion
   > (as I understood it) was to replace the splash screen with a wizard if
   > and only if there was no .emacs (or similar).  Then do magic to
   > somehow keep track if a user had "picked" a provided configuration
   > (vanilla, different, or configuration wizard) of Emacs.  Only then,
   > would you get the current splash screen when you start emacs.
   >
   > That is a strange behaviour, and very much annoying one to keep track
   > of.  

   Sorry I have hard time imaging experienced users regularly using the
   splash screen to open files, I find surprising this is your experience.

I use it all the time when I'm extra lazy or showing new users to use emacs.

It is sometimes easier to use the mouse when you're already using the
mouse; the benefit is also that you get the file dialog which you do
not get when you do find-file.  Ditto with the menu bar, which has its
uses.