[mgdev]

> this requires nonfree Javascript

So... I get the motivation for including this, and I understand Emacs's roots. But IMO this mindset — the one that motivated including this disclaimer - is also why efforts to "modernize" will pay an extra tax, possibly preventing its success.

Emacs has a prioritization rubric that places freedom above mainstream utility. That's perfectly fine, but it inherently limits 1) its audience size, and subsequently 2) its contributor pool and 3) financial upside - either direct or indirect (used to support the project).

This means it will always lag behind the projects that are setting the bar for what "modern" means.

[auganov]

Well, since this survey does in fact include "nonfree" javascript it would imply the authors don't subscribe to that mindset but mentioned it out of respect to those who do.

I'm not sure how much this inhibits Emacs. It's architected in a certain way and there's decades of elisp code one wouldn't want to throw away. IMO this is the biggest limiting factor. Most big fundamental improvements would mean giving a lot of stuff up.

Not a huge fan of "free" software absolutists but just haven't seen this come into play too much with Emacs.

[belorn]

People who do not care about what software is made of, under which user license, where data get stored or who reads it and for what purpose will use something like google docs. The modernized mindset is to put things on a sticky platform, preferable one which hardware keys they control, data mine everything for profit, and not have any way for "customers" to contact the company and object if the customer get kicked out of the platform.

For people who do care there is a spectrum of issues they might care about, including free vs non-free. Surveys like this might even help the developers to identify which of those issues users do care about, and as such, the people behind the survey likely want to make the survey as inclusive to that spectrum as possible.

[Siira]

Except it is still better than those "modern" projects. I use a lot of editors in parallel, and Emacs has the best UX by a landslide. (I have 3000 lines of config in addition to using Doom, but that is what emacs is about in the first place.)

[okprod]

Modern doesn't have to mean nonfree