From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Thomas Lord Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Release plans Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:48:31 -0700 Message-ID: <48A1161F.5020502@emf.net> References: <570553.73339.qm@web95014.mail.in2.yahoo.com> <20080731093022.GB2886@muc.de> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1218513567 3783 80.91.229.12 (12 Aug 2008 03:59:27 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:59:27 +0000 (UTC) Cc: Juanma Barranquero , ich@frank-schmitt.net, emacs-devel@gnu.org To: rms@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Tue Aug 12 06:00:18 2008 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1KSl3M-00081Y-Ty for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Tue, 12 Aug 2008 06:00:13 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:54818 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1KSl2Q-0006p3-T7 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:59:14 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1KSl2K-0006l8-Jb for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:59:08 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1KSl2G-0006cw-1O for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:59:07 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=51251 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1KSl2F-0006cD-J9 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:59:03 -0400 Original-Received: from mail.42inc.com ([205.149.0.25]:47160) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtps (SSL 3.0:RSA_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA1:24) (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1KSl2C-0007tN-7w; Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:59:00 -0400 X-TFF-CGPSA-Version: 1.5 X-TFF-CGPSA-Filter-42inc: Scanned X-42-Virus-Scanned: by 42 Antivirus -- Found to be clean. Original-Received: from [69.236.75.7] (account lord@emf.net HELO [192.168.1.64]) by mail.42inc.com (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 5.0.13) with ESMTPA id 36704229; Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:58:46 -0700 User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.5 (X11/20060808) In-Reply-To: X-detected-kernel: by monty-python.gnu.org: Linux 2.6, seldom 2.4 (older, 4) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:102312 Archived-At: Richard M. Stallman wrote: > I did not "set any standard" just now. I am simply restating, and > applying, the goals of the GNU Project which I set in 1983. > > Our goal is not "helping users" (i.e., giving them whatever they > happen to want). Our goal is establishing freedom for computer users. > > Leading people to escape from Windows is a positive result. > Making use of Windows more convenient is not. > Windows hardly matters anymore. Windows is not growing much in functionality. Meanwhile, what functionality is so often "tied" to it is being whittled away by programs that run on *any* operating system by sticking to W3C standards (and closely related de facto standards). In a sense, the writing is on the wall and the Emacs *architecture* will inevitably win (although, probably not GNU Emacs itself, on the current trajectory): Javascript instead of Emacs lisp; an in-memory, editable DOM object instead of buffers; mostly HTTP as the "universal system call". Eclipse has attracted a lot of users who, in its absence, would likely have chosen Emacs. It is a safe bet, in my opinion, that what comes next that will "eclipse" Eclipse, will be a Javascript program that can run in some "A-list browsers". In this brave new world of W3C standards (and de facto standards around those) -- the traditional operating system is all but irrelevant. New programs (of the sort that typical "end-users" run) increasingly tend to not depend at all on the underlying OS. The traditional OS is dead -- irrelevant. Windows has peaked in terms of its strategic advantages. It is doomed to be (slowly) whittled away by new Emacs-architecture / web- implementation applications. Supporting or not supporting Windows in a package like GNU Emacs makes nearly no difference in this larger trend. There's a lot of fretting over low stakes here, on this list. The more urgent issue concerns the emerging W3C-based world: what will GNU have to offer there? -t > > >