Some things don't need to sacrifice existing users for new users:
* Having the documentation organized nicely
* Interactive things

For example, when I first wrote "DEADLINE:" under a todo in
org-mode, why couldn't there be a pop-up poining me to a tutorial on
how to sort by deadline?

That's easier than learning the DEADLINE: syntax then
specifically searching out a tutorial for it.

And re the Cua mode argument:
Why not ask the user what they're used to in a wizard, that
activates with something like M-x setup. We can learn from
IntelliJ Community Edition here.*

*IntelliJ CE is free software.

On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 1:32 PM Bob Newell <bobnewell@bobnewell.net> wrote:

>
> In your long posting with many ideas about making Emacs
> beginner friendly, there is much to consider, and I must say
> right at the start that easing the Emacs learning experience
> is a worthy goal.
>
> It does raise the question: how did the current Emacs users
> learn Emacs? I can't speak for anyone else but I don't know
> that my own experiences are in any way unique. I learned first
> from the tutorial, then from some of the manuals, then by doing
> and experimenting and reading more of the manuals, and trial
> and error.
>
> Could this have been more efficient? Yes, of course. But I did
> I learn a lot in the process--- a very serious "lot"--- and it
> cemented my knowledge and appreciation of what Emacs could,
> and was already, doing for me.
>
> Do I advocate pure bumbling in the dark as a means of
> learning?  No. But perhaps guided bumbling is more of the
> thing.
>
> We can never forget something critically important: Emacs is a
> very sophisticated, very powerful tool, and like all such
> tools, it takes effort and dedication to learn. (Even lesser
> tools, like office suites, take effort to learn, if perhaps in
> lesser amounts.)
>
> While we can and should do all we can to make the road
> smoother--- short of turning Emacs into something completely
> different and so overwhelmed with tooltips, popups, and other
> "help" that it becomes unpleasant or even unusable--- let's
> face it, Emacs is never going to be "easy."
>
> Emacs will continue to attract a certain audience. I'm not
> sure that this is an issue per se. Nor (as I've said in the
> past) do I mean this to be an elitist thing. Emacs has a
> certain appeal to certain people. So does opera, baseball, or
> liver and onions.
>
> Things are, in fact, very much easier now than when I started
> with Emacs decades ago. Today, there is a wealth of on-line
> information, with tutorials, how-tos, discussions, code
> samples, and help readily available to anyone who asks
> politely.
>
> But in the end: do you become a chess master after reading a
> "Chess Made Easy" book? Do you become a concert guitarist
> after working through "Guitar Playing Made Easy For
> Beginners"?
>
> Effort and reward go together, whether it's Emacs or anything
> else that is deep and sophisticated. If someone wants instant
> gratification, maybe Twitter is a better choice.
>
> --
> Bob Newell
> Honolulu, Hawai`i
>
> - Via GNU/Linux/Emacs/Gnus/BBDB
>
>