I’m not a salesperson or a preacher, and I don’t like to proselytize, so I find it a little difficult to write this kind of presentation. However, I still think Emacs Carnival is a great idea, so here is my Elevator Pitch..
If I had to grab someone’s attention about Emacs quickly, I would say: Emacs is the cathedral of software.
If we ask about Emacs today, outside of its faithful congregation, chances are that many people won’t know what it is, and if you tell them it’s a text editor that was born in the 80s, they’ll think you’re crazy and that you’re talking about some relic.
Obviously, this is a generalization, and like all generalizations, it’s only partly true. The truth is that thinking about software from that era that still works has something anachronistic or magical about it, like a vestige of the past, and it is easy to mistake it for a relic of computer history.
However, those of us who have experienced it know that its beauty is comparable to that of ancient cathedrals. These cathedrals continue to serve and show the world a different path, one that looks to the sky and rises above everyday problems.
Emacs has proven to have found a perfect balance between efficiency and modernity based on three aspects:
Focused on content
In the current era of highly specialized, minimalist applications designed to sell services, an application with a text interface, console-oriented functionality, and extensive user customization appears to be an anomaly.
We must not lose sight of the fact that we live in a world increasingly subject to fads, to what is “politically correct,” and above all, to the dictates of large companies, determined to sell and discover, every few months, the ultimate tool, which will nevertheless be quickly replaced by the next one, becoming obsolete, surpassed by the next discovery, often creating real problems with our own information.
For someone like me, who started programming with punch cards and had the privilege of experiencing the launch of the IBM PC in Spain firsthand, there are plenty of examples, such as WordPerfect, the word processor that dominated the market in the 1980s and early 1990s and seemed irreplaceable; Lotus 1-2-3, the spreadsheet that revolutionized office work in the 1980s and ended up disappearing when Excel took over, WordStar, the de facto standard in professional writing during the 1980s, and more recently, Evernote, which became the flagship of personal productivity gurus and today slumbers, surpassed by new gamified approaches.
A considerable number of these cases have presented substantial migration-related challenges.
Emacs is not just a word processor
The real power behind it is that Emacs transcends what software is, as it is an extension of the way you think and work. In other words, it is the perfect extended mind.
It’s not a one-time solution; it’s an instrument that you can mold and that molds you in return. This relationship, far from being outdated, represents true modernity in that it is software that respects the user, adapting to them and not the other way around.
Emacs, as a text editor, has always kept pure information at the center of its focus. From the beginning, its core has been robust and flexible, keeping the content of our files at the center. These files are always in a free and accessible format, such as pure text. The Emacs Lisp concept of an extensible editor allows any user, including me 🙂, to mold it to their needs. This is why it is the ideal tool for designing your own workflow.
This ensures that Emacs won’t become a relic of the past, as it’s a valuable investment in your own growth.
When you decide to learn it, you’re not just betting on the latest trend; you’re putting your trust in a platform with a proven track record of adapting to any situation, spanning over four decades. In a world that increasingly restricts the ability to choose, I think it is important to emphasize the word “choose”.
A project that grows in community
Emacs is a piece of software that belongs to you, but not exclusively; it is also owned by all its users and its community. Emacs serves as a prime example of what free software can accomplish. It’s not subject to the vagaries of a company, a business model, or profitability. Nobody can stop you from joining, nobody can make you pay to subscribe, and nobody can tell you that the project isn’t worth it anymore.
The supposed “relic” is not only still alive; its expansion is still ongoing. This is a crucial point, and it is important to understand. The ability to evolve without altering the essence is what makes software last. Survival is not the same as longevity.
The irony is that while those “definitive applications” had short lifespans, Emacs is, in reality, radically contemporary . It’s rare for software projects to adapt to so many changes in the industry. These changes range from the terminals of the 1970s to the graphical desktops of the 1990s, the emerging web of the 2000s, and today’s cloud-based distributed workflows.
When it comes to artificial intelligence, real-time collaboration, or scientific writing with version control, Emacs is not only equipped with the necessary tools, but also facilitates seamless integration into a unified workflow.
This is all possible because its license and foundation are based on a community that works with it, makes it grow, and helps newcomers get started.
Conclusion
Remember, a relic is a dead object that is preserved as a testimony to the past.
Emacs, on the other hand, is a living organism that has survived every technological wave and remains as relevant as it was on day one. It is not a vestige of the past that refuses to disappear; it is like a great tree that has survived decades of storms and continues to grow, becoming stronger and bearing fruit.
And in a world where most applications are ephemeral, that makes it not a relic but the most contemporary software in existence.
Request
I am finding it difficult to put these thoughts into English, a language I have not mastered. I’m putting a lot of effort into making this coherent, but I’d really appreciate it if you could use Mastodon to correct anything unclear or incorrect. I’m hoping that this Emacs Carnival experience will help me rethink what Emacs means to me and improve my command of this language.
Thank you for your patience. See you soon.