Re: Text processor

[sungod <sungod atdot org>]

Robin Miller (roblimo@home.com)'s email of 06/20/99 04:33 said:

>Oy! I seem to have started a (rather gentle) flame war where
>I had no intention of doing anything of the sort. Please,
>everyone, accept my apology. 

[much deletion]

>The GNU/Linux problem, right now, is that when a mere user
>asks (begs) for a tool that fits a job, the developers
>instinctively respond with reasons why existing tools are
>adequate and/or with suggestions on how the user can change
>to fit the tools, rather than aking the users what tools
>they need.

Well, see, look at that: you've gone and offended us AGAIN in the very 
process of apologizing!

Robin, here's the thing: I don't quite think you're fitting the mindset. 
WE DON'T SEE THIS AS A PROBLEM! See, my personal email to you, which 
echoed many of the others on this list who said "it looks like you could 
stand to learn emacs or vi," was with every good intention of helping you 
get your job done in the quickest, most efficient, most flexible, most 
powerful way possible. It wasn't to try to demean the way you do things 
now, nor was it to try to say you are wrong. We simply wanted to respond 
to your need, and it looks like most of us have managed to meet your 
requirements except for the part about the pointy-clicky, 
no-learning-curve interface.

I figured that if you were serious about having all this flexibility and 
control at your fingertips, you might not mind the learning curve. I 
thought perhaps the initial difficulty would be justifiable by the 
improved results seen from usage of either of these popular editors. To 
the contrary, you weren't asking so much for flexibility and control as 
you were asking for what you already have.

Consequently, here's my revised recommendation: quit using linux. Quit 
making fun of us, quit patronizing us, quit using GNOME, quit digging at 
our development techniques, our sense of community, and quit telling us 
what our "problems" are: you have a tool that does the job exactly the 
way you want. You have The Best Tool For The Job(TM), Now USE IT. Stick 
with Some Other Editor on Windows. And when you realize that people have 
different values and requirements for the software they write than you 
do, and are willing to make a few changes for the sake of 
self-improvement, welcome back. "Patches gladly accepted."

Please note: yes, I've been a little perturbed by your rude (to my 
perception) rebuffs, but I don't mean that dismissal spitefully; I really 
DO think sticking with your current editor is the best thing for you to 
do. If I wanted to be spiteful about it, I'd tell you to go back to using 
pencil and paper if changing the way you work slightly to adapt to more 
flexible editing is such an abhorrent thing to have to do.