From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Sean Sieger Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Emacs's popularity (was: Distributed Maintenance for Emacs) Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:37:19 -0500 Message-ID: <87zlisj3fk.fsf@gmail.com> References: <2103fd36-c5cd-4e8d-a74f-34697a369934@a26g2000prf.googlegroups.com> <003101c954de$f95a3000$0200a8c0@us.oracle.com> <87skop8cc7.fsf@iki.fi> <20081215210907.GB3848@groll.co.za> <00aa01c95f00$fc27b830$0200a8c0@us.oracle.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1229654280 6120 80.91.229.12 (19 Dec 2008 02:38:00 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2008 02:38:00 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Fri Dec 19 03:39:05 2008 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1LDVGb-0002G6-KM for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:39:05 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:41005 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1LDVFP-0007YT-Ce for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:37:51 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1LDVF5-0007WT-Tb for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:37:31 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1LDVF5-0007Vt-HB for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:37:31 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=49901 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1LDVF5-0007Vk-6y for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:37:31 -0500 Original-Received: from main.gmane.org ([80.91.229.2]:60025 helo=ciao.gmane.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS-1.0:RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1LDVF4-0005Cj-Ig for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:37:30 -0500 Original-Received: from list by ciao.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.43) id 1LDVF2-0000BL-FP for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Fri, 19 Dec 2008 02:37:28 +0000 Original-Received: from pool-162-84-239-209.ny5030.east.verizon.net ([162.84.239.209]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Fri, 19 Dec 2008 02:37:28 +0000 Original-Received: from sean.sieger by pool-162-84-239-209.ny5030.east.verizon.net with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Fri, 19 Dec 2008 02:37:28 +0000 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ Original-Lines: 9 Original-X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: pool-162-84-239-209.ny5030.east.verizon.net User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.0.60 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:LpS2izvQCsdsgsgR4c6Ioo6ZQPs= X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6, seldom 2.4 (older, 4) X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:60836 Archived-At: A tool with a shrinking user base also has a shrinking pool of potential developers that will continue to make it better. Fewer developers to make it better will make it less competitive with other tools causing it to lose more users. And so on. There are also fewer people to file bug reports and help other users with problems. I'm a craftsman by trade and um---the tool thing jumped out at me here---I gotta tell ya, people that use a tool that use developed, not a tool that someone just picked up ... and changed.