Re: Default Emacs keybindings (was: Re: Menu suggestion)

[David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org>]

Thien-Thi Nguyen <ttn@glug.org> writes:

> David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org> writes:
> 
>    As long as the superuser can't with a good conscience throw
>    Emacs at his users, he is not free to use the editor he
>    prefers.
> 
> because naked emacs may be seen as an unkindness in some cultures,
> the crafty superuser throws instead an emacs wrapped in session-,
> site-, or user-specific customizations.

It is not only in a closed shop that my expertise is appreciated.
For example, I am a frequent poster in comp.text.tex and other Usenet
groups.  I can start advice with "if you use Emacs, it is a matter
of..."  I can't start advice with "if you happen to have a service
contract with me and I installed and maintain your copy of Emacs, you
could..."

It is the difference between "with Emacs, you could" and "with my
Emacs, I can".  The latter is gloating rather than helping.

And I don't think we should strive for superuser lock-in: painful
experiences whenever users switch between administrators.  Emacs
should by and large be delivered in a useful state for everyone
without the need for serious reconfiguration.  The better we can
achieve that goal, the more universal Emacs experience becomes.

>    If somebody asks me about a text manipulation problem, and I tell
>    him "just use this one-liner in Emacs" and he says "Forget it.  I
>    don't have a week to spare.  How do I do this in KEdit?", this
>    ultimately forces me to acquire skills with inferior tools in
>    order to kludge along.
> 
> or you could write the one-liner into a file, add five lines of
> comment and/or docstring, and place the file in some shared
> directory where it can be accessed in the future, and studied and
> improved as time permits.  this can be done by all users.

They will still need to use Emacs.

>    The question "is it really worth it?" should, if possible, not
>    come up again and again.
> 
> IMHO, that kind of question is always pertinent.  the answer
> may gradually shift from no to yes, as the environment (which
> includes machines, regular users, and any superusers floating
> in the vicinity) changes.  if the answer does not shift and
> the superusers floating in the vicinity do not effect change,
> that says more about those superusers than the question.

Superusers stand on the shoulders of developers.  On the shoulder of
giants, even dwarfs can look far.

-- 
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum