Re: History Re: Debunking Emacs merits over GUI - Re: package for Email

[Emanuel Berg <incal@dataswamp.org>]

David Masterson wrote:

> I think this thread is kind of missing a key point --
> history. I've been around Emacs for ~40 years (yes,
> TECO Emacs), but I'm, by no means, close to being a
> "Master of Emacs" (we used to call them Gurus). I never had
> time to learn Elisp programming, so I just hacked Elisp code
> together to try out new things (basically setq and
> add-to-hook and, maybe, advise until packages came along) to
> help me with my work.

Interesting, please write more computer history whenever and
as much as you feel like! <3

> There's a lot of history behind what I just said:
>
> 1. The PC Revolution
>
> Mainframes became the backroom land of COBOL that no
> self-respecting college grad would go to. Minis slowly
> disappeared as PCs began making their mark. The problem was
> that it would be 15-25 years before affordable PCs that were
> powerful enough to really support Emacs

Really, that long? :O

> 2. Free Software
>
> While RMS' goal may have been laudable, many (most)
> programmers could not see how to monetize their work in
> a free software environment and, so, went where the money
> was more plentiful. Without the investment of big bucks that
> copyrighted software could command, development of Emacs in
> the 90s slowed to a crawl and depended on the programmer
> "with an itch". Good stuff was done, but it could've been so
> much more. This is why Emacs development took 40 years
> whereas things might've happened faster in the more
> capitalistic world (but Emacs would've been very different
> beast!).

It's enough that the people who likes it enough to do it,
do it. Gets more real that way and a better community, of
doers and users rather than managers and PR guys ...

> 5. Smartphones
>
> The iPhone is still not capable of supporting Emacs and
> I don't know how well Android could support Emacs. Even if
> they could support Emacs, Smartphones are GUI-intensive, so
> not really an environment for a text editor.

They don't have to be, there are text-based Android apps and
plugin a physical keyboard and you should have, I don't
know, something. I prefer the comfort of other solutions but
it should be possible, and absolutely so in the long run, for
people who wants that.

> So the next generation of users/programmers are going to be
> "non-GUI challenged".

It's to early to say, as the Chinese Zhou Enlai first premier
said when asked about the significance of the French
revolution ...

> [AI] is an area that I wasn't in, so I can't say much.
> I assume it will lead to more server systems and Linux (and
> Emacs) can ride the coattails. The tools for AI may be more
> in the Linux world, so the landscape could change.

In 1000 years there won't be a single job a human can do -
physical, analytical, mental, even purely emotional if there
are such jobs - that will outperform a machine doing the
same thing.

Programs that program programs should be just around
the corner.

PS. This message is sent by a human being. My name is
    Emanuel Berg and I approve this message. And I'm not just
    saying that! Heer is a typo to prove I'm not a machine.
    Really ...

-- 
underground experts united
https://dataswamp.org/~incal