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Comment by alpaca128 | Hacker News Reader

If Evil mode or Spacemacs worked perfectly I'd have switched a long time ago. But based on my experience with it I'd say it would take me months of practice and configuration just to get the same experience. And for what? Just so I can do the same things in just one program instead of two(Vim + terminal)? Not worth it for me.

Besides, as long as hitting the Escape key feels like sending messages in morse code I don't think I'll ever get used to it.

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Maybe it’s not worth it, and I get that (but learning is fun and makes you smarter!). But Emacs can do much more than vim+Terminal. Debugging, git integration, psychiatrists, pong, Tetris, an awesome calculator that can do integrals and derivatives, etc etc. Also web browsing (you can embed WebKit inside), a full blown window manager (you can embed X apps in it), org-mode (which is amazing), in-line images, equations, flash cards, music player, movie editor, file manager, and much much more.

Emacs is the greatest application I’ve ever used, bar none. I’ve tried vim, and it doesn’t even come close.

I'm curious if you really think Vim or the terminal can't do any of these things, because it doesn't take long to find replacements for almost all of them(e.g. it's no problem to get image previews with ranger running in Vim). Except the ones that only exist because it's possible and not because it makes sense. Why should I care that a text editor can run a web browser or a music player? Does it bring any additional value except an opportunity for bragging?

Trying to adapt Emacs for me coming from Vim feels like recreating Alpine Linux by modifying an Ubuntu installation: it's pointless, cumbersome and feels insane.

Saying that emacs is more powerful than terminal is annoying and stupid argument. You can have everything you just listed without any hassle, so why are you trying to impose emacs on others in the flame-war way?

Aside from org mode, I can do the same things with different applications. I don't want one big application that does everything. In any case, I don't extol the virtues of vim in emacs-related posts.

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