From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.ciao.gmane.io!not-for-mail From: Richard Stallman Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: "Why is emacs so square?" Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2020 22:30:20 -0400 Message-ID: References: <8wXYP4GY9hwW-9mYv6_LGMETZ8Vz3Ob1Bec6yh6kPT7yxjTkxA3V6dXY4ELra9tYiJUxJmgXKSIEX4w8HFiPRoeGVSQHDSoBVy1voj1e3Qo=@protonmail.com> Reply-To: rms@gnu.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=Utf-8 Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="ciao.gmane.io:159.69.161.202"; logging-data="59983"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org, ndame@protonmail.com To: Stefan Kangas Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Thu Apr 16 04:31:03 2020 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by ciao.gmane.io with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1jOuIw-000FVU-Pa for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Thu, 16 Apr 2020 04:31:02 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:57156 helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1jOuIv-00021r-Pv for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Wed, 15 Apr 2020 22:31:01 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:43261) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1jOuII-0001V4-TK for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 15 Apr 2020 22:30:23 -0400 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::e]:51868) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1jOuII-0008Qh-If; Wed, 15 Apr 2020 22:30:22 -0400 Original-Received: from rms by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.82) (envelope-from ) id 1jOuIG-0004CF-OB; Wed, 15 Apr 2020 22:30:21 -0400 In-Reply-To: (message from Stefan Kangas on Wed, 15 Apr 2020 06:39:52 +0200) X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.2.x-3.x [generic] X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 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-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "Emacs-devel" Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.devel:247069 Archived-At: [[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider ]]] [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]] [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]] > Is there any reason not to improve the default look? 1. It will take work. 2. The code to interface Emacs to X-based GUIs needs rewriting by an expert, and has needed it for decades. Until it gets that rewrite, changes in it are likely to break something. 3. We may not have any developers who are experts on that area and capable of doing any changes well. > Graphical design elements can also improve usability. I won't argue with that -- but I have a feeling that the changes that would help are deeper issues than the shape of corners. > For example, I've always > assumed that many people use Sublime Text not due to any serious > feature comparison with Emacs, but because they like its "sleek look". Perhaps that is true. Or perhaps its graphical interface is substantively more natural than that of Emacs. In Emacs, our graphical interface is constrained by historical compatibility and making it more natural is difficult. Another question about them: are they among the segment of users for whom the investment of learning Emacs would pay off? -- Dr Richard Stallman Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org) Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org) Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)