Re: Emacs learning curve

[Tom]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org> writes:
> 
> How on earth are those two related??  CUA Mode already exists and need
> just be enabled; the IDE features need at best a lot of work, if not
> implementation from ground up.  Enabling CUA by default modifies the
> most basic keybindings; adding IDE features changes nothing until the
> user actually activates the IDE.  Etc., etc.
> 

The logic goes:

1. we don't have a killer application out of the box with zero
configuration like refactoring support, etc. It needs lots of work.

2. we have a UI which is very different from the ones in popular 
  systems (e.g. keybindings)

3. since we don't have a killer feature which is instantly appealing
to newcomers and we have a different ui, they usually say, in my
experience: Why should I bother with it?  Why should I learn new
keys for copy/paste if there is not killer feature?

4. by making the UI more similar (by default, without any necessary
configuration) to other popular systems, we lower the barrier of entry. 
Casual users can try emacs with no upfront effort and some of them
will be interested to learn more about it if they like what they see
and experience. First impression matters.

5. If more casual users try emacs the more chance there is they become
regular user and maybe even contributors.

6. By taking the conservative estimate that 1 percent of new users
become emacs hackers who contribute something worthwhile (code,
documentation, testing, etc.) then if we can attract 1000 more new
users we can get 10 good contributors. If we can attract 10000,
we get a 100.


That's why I think making emacs more appealing to new users is important.
More users means more hackers (that 1 percent, that is) and more hackers 
means more development resources which leads to a better emacs.