From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Marcin Borkowski Subject: Re: converting people to Emacs and org-mode Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2013 22:59:18 +0200 Message-ID: <20130409225918.07f4fac5@aga-netbook> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([208.118.235.92]:43525) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UPfdZ-0006Gm-2e for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:59:31 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UPfdV-0003GN-Tj for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:59:29 -0400 Received: from msg.wmi.amu.edu.pl ([2001:808:114:2::50]:58097) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UPfdV-0003Fl-IN for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:59:25 -0400 Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by msg.wmi.amu.edu.pl (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4D8ED42063 for ; Tue, 9 Apr 2013 22:59:21 +0200 (CEST) Received: from msg.wmi.amu.edu.pl ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (msg.wmi.amu.edu.pl [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id UBqcuTjdALHV for ; Tue, 9 Apr 2013 22:59:21 +0200 (CEST) Received: from aga-netbook (jedenzero5-dziewiecosiem.echostar.pl [213.156.105.98]) by msg.wmi.amu.edu.pl (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 0B01F42061 for ; Tue, 9 Apr 2013 22:59:20 +0200 (CEST) In-Reply-To: List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org Dnia 2013-04-09, o godz. 04:10:07 42 147 napisa=C5=82(a): > Hello mailing list, >=20 > This might be considered off-topic. >=20 > The question is the title: have you been able to convert many people > to Emacs / org-mode? Are converts all programmers, or those versed in > programming? -- Or have you converted non-programmers, e.g., anyone > who edits text for a living? An interesting (maybe?) story: I did convert a friend to Emacs. We work on proofreading and typesetting papers for a journal, which means massive (and sometimes quite repetitive) editing. I cooked a small Elisp utility which gets a list of lists; the car of each of them is a regex and the cdr is a list of possible substitutions for it. (For example, something like "\([0-9]\{4\}\)" (w/o backslashes escaped here) might get translated into "\1 year" or "year \1" (this is not the best example due to English syntax - in Polish the word order is much more flexible - but you get the idea). My function walks through the document, highlights any caught fragments and lets the user to press TAB until the desired substitution appears. It's not perfect, but it helps us *a lot*. When the friend saw it, he finally installed Emacs (after being harassed by me for some 2+ years;)). Now I'm in the process of showing him Org-mode. Interestingly, the feature which got him the most excited was clocking; this confirms that different people have wildly different usage patterns (I guess for most users clocking is completely unnecessary). BTW: he's not a programmer (though very skilled at LaTeX). > It's impossible for me to have a conversation these days without > referring to org-mode. Since I use it for practically everything, > there's no way to avoid raising the topic. However, I do find it > difficult to convert people. I send them video captures showing off > the features, give real-time demonstrations, etc., and offer to work > them through the installation and lead them up the steep Emacs > learning curve -- but thus far, I've only gotten a couple people to > adopt it. And that after relentless advocacy. I know that feeling from a hobby of mine; boardgamers are also (very often) "evangelists" (me too). Authorities on the subject usually warn people not to do that;). > Anyway, apologies if this seems to clutter the already highly active > mailing list. But I do think questions of proselytization (because we > /are/ talking religion here) is important. Ha ha, one of my favorite inside jokes with my friends/colleagues is me saying "I'm not particularly religious, sometimes I use Emacs and sometimes Vim". (Of course, only those who know I'm a devout Catholic get the joke. And in reality I use Vim very rarely, and almost never on my computer.) > 42 Best, --=20 Marcin Borkowski http://octd.wmi.amu.edu.pl/en/Marcin_Borkowski Adam Mickiewicz University