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

[Bob Newell <bobnewell@bobnewell.net>]

> >Doug Engelbart invented mouse device for people to speed up with
> >work. Using mouse is just fine.

Certainly it is.  But remember it is a matter of choice and user
preference.  I find having to reach for the mouse and remove hands
from keyboard very disruptive.

> Yes you are right. I am biased here. Keyboard-centric is not merit, it
> is just a feature.

Again, depending on the point of vue of the user.

> >> - You can manipulate emails buffers just like normal text buffers.

Well, actually you can in GNUS and probably other Emacs clients.

Not to say Thunderbird isn't good.  I actually think it's a very good
client.  It is just not what I prefer as I like to stay within Emacs.

> >It is way too exaggerated and generalized statement. The "powerful
> >way" in any software comes with experience. To learn what you think is
> >powerful requires maybe decades.

This is something I've stressed before.  Serious tools for craftsmen
require serious effort.  No one starts out as a master craftsman.
Everyone starts as a novice.  Does that mean that the tools of the
master are inferior because the novice is not yet skilled with them?
Hardly.

> But an average user won't use emacs as its text editor. An average user
> writes proses use MS Word.

And that's fine.  To each his own.

> >About writing in "Org mode", there is no special advantage for people
> >who use e-mail unless those people are Emacs users. To draw somebody
> >to be Emacs user into Org mode is getting person in trouble.

I will again say something I've said before.  Emacs is not for
everyone, and I don't mean that in an elitist sense.  For many of us
it is an indispensible tool, which we've spent a long while learning
how to use to best advantage.  For others it may just be a big bother
when simpler and easier tools may work just fine for their needs.

I am not out there telling people "learn Emacs" without first knowing
what their interests and inclinations may be.  That indeed could be
unproductive.  I think people who can make use of Emacs find their way
to it eventually.

-- 
Bob Newell
Honolulu, Hawai`i

Via Linux/Emacs/Gnus/BBDB.