[mej10]

Spacemacs fixes a lot of the discoverability problems of Emacs and is generally more ergonomic.

I don't know anyone that learned it as a first editor (everyone already knew vim or emacs) but it seems like it could be a much better experience for someone new.

[qwertyuiop924]

Ah yes, spacemacs. Not a fan, myself (I like to know what my configs are doing), but some people swear by it.

Personally, I don't think it would be good to introduce the newbies to modal editing right off the bat. They'll most likely have to learn a whole new set of keyboard shortcuts. Don't make them learn a whole new editing paradigm, too: they'll have given up before you can say, "which mode am I in now?"