Re: freedomization task list [was: Re: Dangerous precedent being set - possible serious violation of the GPL]
On Wed, 8 Dec 1999, Ben Armstrong wrote:
> On Tue, 7 Dec 1999, Richard Stallman wrote:
> > Will most PICO users really care about the size of the program very
> > much? Given the big memories of modern machines, I would expect that
> > the size won't make a practical difference any more--assuming the
> > commands and display are similar enough.
>
> In a word: Yes. Our kids use pico on their 386sx/20 to compose
> stories. I use pico instead of vi/ae to configure small systems
> (firewalls, etc.) Also, I know our freenet uses pine/pico (dozens of
> users at a time ... emacs wouldn't cut it, as the server would quickly run
> out of memory).
Rubbish. FUD, FUD, FUD. Successive copies of emacs will share almost all
their memory with each other. (No, this isn't a clever emacs feature;
it's a standard feature of Linux VM, and other good VM systems).
Yes, 10 copies of emacs will use a bit more memory than ten copies of
pico. But the difference will be far less that than between 1 copy of
each, (proportionally, I mean). It would be an unusually impoverished
system, by todays standards, which wouldn't run many, many emacses
simultaneously.
If people prefer pico, that's fine, of course.
> The beauty of Debian is that of all the distros out
> there, it is the most suited for installing on small systems, as it is so
> easy to pick-and-choose the components you install. Ever consider
> producing a "tiny emacs" (maybe a contradiction in terms? ;) Some subset
> of emacs that is suitable for small systems and that meets the needs of
> those who want small + configurable in the same package. Or perhaps this
> is already done adequately by other existing packages, like jed?
Exactly. You're quite right. Choice is everything.
There are two orthogonal issues:
1) Debian should include a wide variety of packages, to suit different
needs and preferences
2) Users should be interested in trying different editors and exploring
how powerful they are, without being influenced by the prejudice of their
friends ;-)
Jules
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| Jules aka | jules@debian.org | Richmond, Surrey |
| Julian Bean | jmlb2@hermes.cam.ac.uk | TW9 2TF *UK* |
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