Re: GNU Emacs raison d'etre

[Arthur Miller]

<address@hidden> writes:

> On Thu, May 21, 2020 at 01:07:41AM +0300, Dmitry Gutov wrote:
>> On 21.05.2020 01:00, Karl Fogel wrote:
>> >>In this we're, again, similar to other professional software.
>> >Well, I'm not sure exactly what "professional software" means in this
>> > context, but if it means "expects the user to make sustained investment",
>> > then I agree.
>> 
>> I don't know, Blender? Which has reportedly made some strides in
>> usability lately. Other 3D editors and associated programs.
>
> I keep seeing Blender mentioned here. One thing which should
> be considered is that Blender was "born" 1994. At that time,
> Emacs was around its 19th version and was already 18 -- so
> allowed to drink (in some jurisdictions, that is).
There was an interview in Linux Format magazine, in January issue this
year, with Blender creator, which circled mostly about how Blender
turned into widely accepted professional 3D modelling/animation software
from being an obscure 3D package mostly ignored by professionals.
I recognized Emacs in Blender and posted here so now it is mentioned
here and there. You might get a copy of the issue, or find it on the
Internet, particlar interview is available to read for free, albeit the
website uses non-free javascript, so I'll not link to it here.

> So I'd expect a more complex community to have gathered around
> Emacs by now.
Why? :-)
>
> Basically, I think the main "asset" [1] of a software project
> to be it's community. Software can be written and can be thrown
> away (and sometimes it's good to throw some software away, or
> better, to stash it away for softwar archaeologists to have
> fun fifty years from now). The longer a community lives, the
> more complex it is to balance out continuity and innovation.
Indeed. But for anything to live long, it needs to adapt to changs, and
software/IT community changes rapidly. That seems to be basic law of
evolution. Emacs does not seem to adapt despite being super adaptable
software package so well. Is community big enough to be sustainable in
long term?
> In my eyes, Emacs is doing an outstanding job on that.
Personally I don't think Emacs will go extinct any time soon, neither,
but what will happen in next 40 years? Is it important though? But I
would like to see bigger community now so we get even more developers
and even better Emacs :-)