Re: Stop fiddling with my preferences

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2014 00:15:53 -0700
> From: Bob Proulx <bob@proulx.com>
> 
> Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> > Roland Lutz wrote:
> > > operating systems, but does this make it appropriate for Emacs?  One of 
> > > the reasons I'm using mature software is exactly that I *don't* have to be 
> > > worried with each new version that ESC won't stop playing animated GIFs 
> > > any more, etc.
> > 
> > We change user-visible behavior in response to user demand, not
> > because Emacs is immature.  User demands and expectations change with
> > time, and Emacs cannot stay with old defaults forever.
> 
> I often hear developers saying this.  But I rarely hear users asking
> for these (mis)features.

You should read this list more frequently, then.  Typically, each such
decision (or indecision) is accompanied by a very long discussion
here, with core developers usually _resisting_ radical changes that
break old habits.  We, too, use Emacs, you know.

Here's a discussion related to that particular (mis)feature.

  http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2013-10/msg00407.html

> Therefore what it feels like is actually happening is that when
> developers want to do something they just do it and claim that users
> want it.  When they don't want to do it then they claim they can't
> because of backward compatibility.

That's extremely unfair.  The truth is almost the opposite.  I invite
you to read the archives of this list and see for yourself.  Perhaps
others could point to additional discussions regarding similar changes
(turning on font-lock globally comes to mind).