But I also ponder about user behavior. New users who flock to the modern terminal tools need to learn new keybindings, new shortcuts, new workflows. Yet they are willing to invest that time in learning these modern terminal tools. But many of the same users are averse to investing that time in Emacs. Why is that? What explains this?I've been using terminals for over 30 years, been using linux and other unixes for over 20 years, and I have attempted to learn emacs multiple times. I have never been able to get to the point where i felt comfortable at all using it. In contrast with vi/vim I felt comfortable editing files within 10 minutes. So while I'm not a new user, I think I can offer some anecdata.
Attempting to learn emacs feels like wanting to watch spiderman no way home, and not knowing which of the hundreds of hours of related content you should watch first. Some of it makes your experience more enjoyable, Some of it is barely related, some of it is actively shunned by the creators, some is largely considered required viewing by the community, but not necessarily by the creators.
Emacs has decades of history, plugins and configurations that are entirely overwhelming to someone coming in new. There are a few tutorials out there, but all the ones I have tried felt strangely opinionated, and out of date. One of the first things I learned was that the keybindings are designed for a keyboard that no longer exists, but for some reason the documentation uses the terminology for that keyboard. Why must we read about meta keys when none of us have a meta key? Another thing I learned is that there are so many configurations and plugins, that there are distributions of emacs that come with modified defaults, but that you shouldn't use them until you take the time to learn why you need all of those plugins and settings. But who's advice should I take?
I think for emacs to gain market share there needs to be an official modern tutorial that holds your hand, and walks you through all the basics, and common configurations, including the top X most important plugins and how to use them. All while focusing on the actual benefits over the alternatives, without glossing over it's own negatives. It would need to be written by an emacs expert that is not an emacs zealot. I don't know if such a person exists, I have certainly never met one. It also would need to be updated atleast once a year to keep up to date with changes in the plugin ecosystem.
That is to say, it needs to feel like a thriving active project that wants new users. Instead it feels like a neighborhood pub with a sign that's falling down, and you have to go in the back door because the front one is always locked these days, but all the regulars know that so there is no point in doing anything about it.