From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Ricardo Wurmus Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: New maintainer Date: Mon, 05 Oct 2015 07:24:22 +0200 Message-ID: <87a8rx6g6x.fsf@elephly.net> References: <560CCEBA.9080607@online.de> <874miapdhs.fsf@openmailbox.org> <8737xuuw2y.fsf@rabkins.net> <87lhbmkrle.fsf@fencepost.gnu.org> <87si5r22qh.fsf@fencepost.gnu.org> <8737xrweel.fsf@googlemail.com> <87r3lazla7.fsf@fencepost.gnu.org> <87bnce1ko7.fsf@googlemail.com> <87mvvyz5a8.fsf@fencepost.gnu.org> <87si5qi7zi.fsf@googlemail.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1444022708 8292 80.91.229.3 (5 Oct 2015 05:25:08 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2015 05:25:08 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: "Jens K. Loewe" Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Oct 05 07:25:00 2015 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1ZiyGg-0001jy-71 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 05 Oct 2015 07:24:58 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:44353 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ZiyGf-0006HI-3d for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 05 Oct 2015 01:24:57 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:44260) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ZiyGG-0006E4-49 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 05 Oct 2015 01:24:33 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ZiyGD-0000ML-0X for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 05 Oct 2015 01:24:32 -0400 Original-Received: from sender163-mail.zoho.com ([74.201.84.163]:25533) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ZiyGC-0000M4-Oo for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 05 Oct 2015 01:24:28 -0400 Original-Received: from localhost (xd9bad8a1.dyn.telefonica.de [217.186.216.161]) by mx.zohomail.com with SMTPS id 1444022667090407.68987119342864; Sun, 4 Oct 2015 22:24:27 -0700 (PDT) User-agent: mu4e 0.9.13; emacs 24.5.1 In-reply-to: <87si5qi7zi.fsf@googlemail.com> X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 3.x X-Received-From: 74.201.84.163 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:190916 Archived-At: Jens K. Loewe writes: >> The issue here was actually MacOSX, resulting in a reminder of the rule >> that no functionality is to be introduced for non-free operating systems >> that is not available for GNU/Linux. > > Which is a pretty OK rule, I just wanted you to consider that having a > "broken by design" Windows or OSX version of a GNU tool will rather make > people drop the tool than their operating system. Just a data point: the frustrating experience of using Emacs on MacOS has resulted in many complaints from a user about ... MacOS. The user is considering to move to a system that doesn’t arbitrarily restrict freedom to the degree that it is done on MacOS. (This is in the context of the world of bioinformatics, in which Windows is hardly important, Macs are often used and complained about, and GNU is the system that is actually supported by the local IT department.) A tool is hardly “broken by design” when it works better on a particular kind of system. I rather think that it is a matter of degree: if the tool is hardly usable at all, it probably would be dropped without a second thought; if it can be used, even if not to the full extent as it is useful on a free system, it can be enough to tip the scales in favour of the free system. ~~ vegetarian Ricardo