From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: rvmolen@bambecksystems.com (Richard V. Molen) Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: (Slightly Off-Topic) Emacs-like Office App Date: 01 Nov 2002 09:43:41 -0800 Sender: help-gnu-emacs-admin@gnu.org Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: main.gmane.org 1036178357 20973 80.91.224.249 (1 Nov 2002 19:19:17 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 19:19:17 +0000 (UTC) Return-path: Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 187hK5-0005Rr-00 for ; Fri, 01 Nov 2002 20:19:13 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.10) id 187frz-0004ga-00; Fri, 01 Nov 2002 12:46:07 -0500 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed-east.nntpserver.com!nntpserver.com!border1.nntp.aus1.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!nntp3.aus1.giganews.com!nntp.iccinternet.com!news.iccinternet.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Original-NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 11:42:57 -0600 Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.2 Original-Lines: 46 Original-X-Trace: sv3-YoBCBae+XYlABKPDpJjS8E8cCZ/gU6czz5sd3Prh/RWt3/Ki+HE4TWtXem1xqZ/eMxHRjF4HM98QpzB!lbhb+CtPkUDiri9qyIsis0MeKMc1OhrSHQIgeYGsy71wfkqZDYxPfShS2PsiSghn/ODIxx0jJK0M Original-X-Complaints-To: abuse@iccinternet.com X-DMCA-Notifications: http://www.giganews.com/info/dmca.html X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.1 Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:106657 Original-To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-admin@gnu.org X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.11 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:3215 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.help:3215 bobstopper@australispro.com.au writes: > The things that would convince me it's worth it are: people want the product; > I manage to make money out of it thus fulfilling my dream of beginning an > income generating programming cooperative (I'm an anarchist and I want rid of > bosses =P); and it wins people over to the GNU cause (Like I said, I don't > think providing an equivalent will do it - it needs to be BETTER). > As for the features of Emacs creeping in, why wait when we can just do it > from scratch? The best features of Emacs, I would say, would be its use of > modes and elisp. How might Emacs modes and elisp benefit typical office users in such a way that they would say, "Hey, I this cool, maybe I should try it."? > Most programs would need a complete rewrite to provide that > functionality anyway. This would have the advantage of having it from the > start. It seems to me that the cart of existing applications (like Emacs) is being put in front of the ox of user requirements analysis. First decide which users will be your primary focus, figure out what would make their life easier and how you can sell them on it. Your approach seems to be from the opposite direction, "How do I take a cool app like Emacs & make it so everyone will want to use it." If I was just starting a project I'd review the UML's software development process 'use-case analysis' literature by Jacobson (Jacobsen?). Of course, if the real purpose is to increase Emacs acceptance among the unconverted, you may want to consider a 'foot in the door' approach as opposed to a total replacement. Perhaps a simpler project would be to make Emacs a 'really cool program launcher' that would launch Browsers, Explorer Windows, music media players etc. from text file entries. This functionality already exists in Emacs. This might be saleable because a user can setup a text file to contain important URLS, filenames, shortcuts along with explanatory/searchable text in a way that hasn't been done by M$. -- Richard V. Molen Warning!! Signature under construction, safety glasses required.