Re: emacs and osx

[David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org>]

Bob Hunter <catdogbeloved@yahoo.com> writes:

> David Kastrup wrote:
>> Bob Hunter <catdogbeloved@yahoo.com> writes:
>> 
>>>Lute Kamstra wrote:
>> [...]
>> 
>>>>>This "editor" needs to go on diet...
>>>>
>>>>We feel that it's important that you can play Tetris with Emacs.
>> 
>>>I would rather choose to have those "extras" than being forced to
>>>like them...
>> Nobody forces you to like them.
>
> To have tetris in the main distribution is kind of forcing. I would
> rather choose to have it, rather than just have it.

It is not even 20k source code.  And if it is loaded (which is not
done unless needed), it takes maybe 4kbyte of your main memory.  Put
that into the proper relation with some "desktop applet" like, say,
drivemount_applet2 that takes 30kB of code on the disk, and Megabytes
of memory when it is run.

Emacs is much less wasteful than other desktop environments.

>>>I would be much happier if emacs would have a better menu (File,
>>>Edit, etc.) along the lines of ... any other application.
>> One has nothing to do with the other.  And Emacs pretty much existed
>> before "any other application" and will likely exist longer than the
>> majority of all of them.  So it does not make too much sense to bend
>> over backwards to be more similar to short-lived applications and
>> fashions.  It is ok to improve Emacs, but it does not make sense to
>> warp it beyond recognition.
>
> Oh, no, that was not my intention. Indeed, I meant a "better menu",
> i.e. one that is more intuitive, and I perceive that other
> applications, especially under osx, are *much* more
> intuitive. Perhaps the port of emacs to osx will have the added
> value of improved user experience? I very much hope so. I very,
> very, very, ... , very much hope so.

I don't.  There is no sense in improving Emacs just on one platform.
If people have sensible ideas that can be put into practice, they
should also have the decency to do the work of having them integrated
into the mainline.

There is nothing to be gained by dozens of incompatible defaults in
circulation.

Those belong into the Emacs distribution.  Maybe not as a system
default, but at least as a customization theme.  In that manner, you
can get your "improved" "MacOsX" behavior on a Windows or Solaris
Emacs by a single customization of their Emacs, and Windows users can
make your MacOSX Emacs behave like they are accustomed to with a
single customization, too.

-- 
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum