Re: Is Emacs becoming Word?

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 10:05:31 -0800
> From: Greg Novak <novak@ucolick.org>
> 
> Starting with Emacs21, the program has been creeping toward becoming a
> WYSIWYG editor, instead of sticking to its roots as a _TEXT_ editor.
> 
> Some of these features are cool and useful: Eg, I use the ability to
> display PNG files in a buffer to look at previews of math I've typeset
> with Latex in the same buffer as the Latex source.  Cool, and useful.
> 
> While I'm not against implementing these wacky new feature, I request
> that they remain _off by default_.

Since you do like some of the ``wacky'' new features, please give a
list of those which you request to be left off by default.  We cannot
possibly guess them, and the two problems you mentioned _are_ already
off by default, see below.

> Today when I was editing source
> code and tried to type pi/2 in a buffer, Emacs replaced it with some
> special character that appeared as "1/2" as a single character.

This is off by default, so you should look into your customizations
and find what turns it on.

> The other day I was editing Lisp code and found that instead of the
> usual paren highlighting, Emacs was highlighting the entire enclosed
> expression.

This feature is off by default as well.  Something in your .emacs
turns it on.

> I've had a long, sometimes rocky, but mostly loving relationship with
> Emacs.  I find these developments troubling.

If these two examples are the only problems that bug you, it seems
like you are jumping to conclusions: the cause of your trouble is your
own customizations, and perhaps also a few packages that are not part
of the normal Emacs distribution.

If there are other WYSIWYG features that you find unhelpful and that
are on by default, please tell what are they.