Explore a thought-provoking conference talk that delves into the enduring relevance of Emacs in the ever-changing landscape of text editors. Examine the concept of popularity in software tools, its measurement methods, and the factors contributing to the rise and fall of text editors. Discover why Emacs stands out with its deep hackability, strong community of skilled package authors, dedicated user base, and responsive maintainers. Learn how these unique attributes position Emacs to thrive regardless of mainstream popularity trends. Gain insights into the software industry's shifting preferences and understand why Emacs is poised to outlast fleeting editor fashions.
Overview
Syllabus
Introduction and conclusion
Who am I?
Is Emacs unpopular?
What does popularity really mean?
How do we measure popularity?
Google Trends
Stack Overflow Survey
Community Activity
How do editors lose popularity?
A new editor with better features appears
Lack of sufficient maintenance
The "fashion" moves on
What happens when an editor loses popularity?
How will Emacs survive *despite* popularity?
Emacs is more deeply hackable than almost all other editors
Emacs has a strong community of highly skilled package authors
Emacs has a very strong user community
The Emacs maintainers and contributors care about the users
Isn't all this supposed to come when an editor is popular?
When someone talks about popularity...
Taught by
EmacsConf and Emacs hangouts
