Re: History Re: Debunking Emacs merits over GUI - Re: package for Email

[David Masterson]

Jean Louis <bugs@gnu.support> writes:

> * Milan Glacier <news@milanglacier.com> [2023-01-18 21:06]:
>> I don't use gnus.
>> 
>> > 11. What are the benefits compared to thunderbird?
>> > A. Only the keybindings of Emacs I can use and in knowing them it will     
>> > be easier in future to handle it?
>> > B. It is within emacs and uses less CPU
>> > C......
>> 
>> I don't use thunderbird. But emacs/cli based emails clients generally
>> have common merits over GUI client:
>> 
>> - They are keyboard centric.
>
> That some application is "keyboard centric" is not a merit over GUI
> client which is maybe assumed not to be keyboard centric. In fact,
> being "keyboard centric" impairs usability.

I think this thread is kind of missing a key point -- history.  I've
been around Emacs for ~40 years (yes, TECO Emacs), but I'm, by no means,
close to being a "Master of Emacs" (we used to call them Gurus).  I
never had time to learn Elisp programming, so I just hacked Elisp code
together to try out new things (basically setq and add-to-hook and,
maybe, advise until packages came along) to help me with my work.

There's a lot of history behind what I just said:

1. The PC Revolution

Mainframes became the backroom land of COBOL that no self-respecting
college grad would go to.  Minis slowly disappeared as PCs began making
their mark.  The problem was that it would be 15-25 years before
affordable PCs that were powerful enough to really support Emacs (and
Linux) became available.  But PCs were the market, so programmers moved
there.

2. Free Software

While RMS' goal may have been laudable, many (most) programmers could
not see how to monetize their work in a free software environment and,
so, went where the money was more plentiful.  Without the investment of
big bucks that copyrighted software could command, development of Emacs
in the 90s slowed to a crawl and depended on the programmer "with an
itch".  Good stuff was done, but it could've been so much more.  This is
why Emacs development took 40 years whereas things might've happened
faster in the more capitalistic world (but Emacs would've been very
different beast!).

3. WWW

The web brought Linux to the forefront in the 1990s because it had the
power for the server applications that DOS and Windows didn't (for
awhile).  The competition for programmers was on, but PCs still had a
huge lead.  Programmers appreciated the Emacs environment, but often had
to use specific tools.

4. Gaming PCs

Games built a big market for more powerful PCs (and vice versa).  Linux
could steadily take advantage of the new power, but PC applications had
a huge lead. Although Linux may have had cross-platform development
capabilities, the preference was for native (MS-Windows) tools, so Emacs
didn't get a lot of attention.

5. Smartphones

The iPhone is still not capable of supporting Emacs and I don't know how
well Android could support Emacs.  Even if they could support Emacs,
Smartphones are GUI-intensive, so not really an environment for a text
editor. So the next generation of users/programmers are going to be
"non-GUI challenged".

6. AI

This is an area that I wasn't in, so I can't say much.  I assume it
will lead to more server systems and Linux (and Emacs) can ride the
coattails.  The tools for AI may be more in the Linux world, so the
landscape could change.

The editor wars are long over -- Visual Studio (and it's ilk) won.
Everything else is just trying to fit in around the edges...

(But I still like Emacs!)

-- 
David Masterson