Re: Honoring traditional defaults [was: Transient Mark Mode on by default]

[Jari Aalto]

* Tue 2008-03-25 Stephen J. Turnbull <address@hidden> gmane.emacs.devel
* Message-Id: address@hidden
> The only reason not to make Windows/Mac-like behavior the default that
> makes sense to me is if we think that traditional Emacs behavior is
> *clearly* superior for *most* beginners, enough to make it worth a
> short period of confusion and annoyance while they learn to use the
> Emacs behaviors.

The principle "make them learn" isn't a productive starting point.
This old thinking a is sure way to degrade Emacs to a niche for only
the very enduring people.

As Paul said, we should nor neglect to consider new users as a
valuable new resource. They should be approached with care and with
listening ear.

If they don't get hooked, they will not (and don't want to) spend time
in learning. This is reality today; things might have been a little
different 10-20 years ago in C/C++ era. We're no longer there.

Jari