Getting people to use Emacs

How easy has it been for you?

In my 10 years of using Emacs and talking to people about it, I think (the emphasis is on 'think') I managed 2 converts. But those were already Unix experts and probably don't count. :-)
Even the 2 converts, took about a couple of years, one decided to plunge in and the other a couple of half hearted attempts and then took a deep dive into it.

Like, decided to use Emacs for 6 months without using any other editor.

I really find it hard, to understand why this is difficult for someone. Not that Emacs is easy to learn. I meant the apparent decision in making up one's mind that indeed Emacs does things better than notepad or vi.

I can understand that if someone agreed that Emacs is the way to go but gave up due to the learning issues; for whatever reason. But what I don't get is the complete disinterest when your work involves things that Emacs does in a jiffy. Apparently I just showed you that in Emacs editing database columnar data is easy (you don't have switch from pasting between notepad and MS Excel to align the data) and you still show a complete lack of interest in knowing how that is done?

Leaving aside the Emacs learning part, wouldn't anyone be interested in that 'cool', 'neat' way of solving a simple text issue? Using vi to review large code bases versus using Emacs and bookmarks? Using htmlize? Helping someone with applying code changes using ediff? Simple word wrapping using M-q?

I tried across the aboard, people in the early twenties, late twenties and even my age group.
Not a single chap has come back to ask where, how and what to learn about Emacs?

Depressing.

Without evangelising, I've shown people how to do stuff in Emacs and the results have been....let's say diplomatically.....bloody disaster.

I must be getting old. That's all I can think of. or Ugly. or Stupid.

Other Editors....

Sometimes it's hard to explain why I use Emacs and not switch to other editors.
It's not that I have not tried other editors but I just don't see the point after looking at the feature list and the UI.

Every time a new editor comes out and someone talks up a new feature, it's either there in Emacs or someone quickly comes out with something similar.

Come to think of it, the complete integration of your work style either out of the box or through customisation is what keeps me with emacs. There is simply very little that you need to do or need a reason to step out of emacs.

Things that I find incredibly useful are

pcvs
ediff
org-mode
auctex

and a whole bunch of default settings in emacs. For a bad typist like me, the dabbrev and hippie expansion are a godsend. I mean, that alone saves hours of typing the same stuff over and over again.

Quite simply, I've come to the point where if an editor does not provide for easy integration with MY work style, I'd be quite reluctant to switch.

Am I saying I won't switch?

Quite the opposite, you better have something much, much better than what I have!