[fakeempire]

Emacs isn't a good text editor. vi is a far superior text editor if you want to only edit text. But thats the point, people that really use emacs dont just edit text in it. They live in it.

Your filebrowser pane isnt the same. In emacs dired is an actual buffers that you act on in the same way you act on other buffers, same with magit (this is the best interface to VC i've ever used), same with mingus (front end for mpd, btw) and every other mode.

So thats where our communication breaks down. Emacs isnt a good text editor. The entire emacs environment is where the value is. If you just want to make edits on files, use vi. its faster than anything to do that (I used vi exclusively for over a decade). I know jedit is nice too.

But if you spend 8 hours a day programming then the value of emacs can shine. And the real point is, if you spend that much time programming then its silly to worry about the initial learning curve. Who cares about that time, it will be paid back infinitely over your career.

But as always, its a useless debate. You can't understand the value of something until you actually use it. That goes for both of us, I'm not just taking a snipe at you.

[iron_ball]

Perhaps I'm missing a nuance, but I think what you're saying is that you prefer to use the overall emacs workflow for all your tasks -- emacs as OS, UI, and human interface guidelines all in one. I find no fault in that! And who knows, if I took the time to master emacs, maybe I'd prefer it as well.