"...novice-friendly software has a despicable habit of piling feature upon feature without really getting any more advanced -- it's the same stupid dog learning more and more tricks. those tricks are just long, automated sequences of manual commands. Emacs isn't like that. Emacs tricks have to do with algorithmically modifiable and parametrically adjustable behavior.
a TAB doesn't just insert a tab, it indents your source code according to a very complex set of rules. most users who think about this in any serious way will _have_ to think "wow! how does it _do_ that?", and the answer lies buried in hundreds of lines of very complex Lisp code. not at all like the ridiculously simple jokes that the novice-friendly software calls "macros". but why is this a problem? [...] to succeed and survive as a more intellectual environment, we need to be _less_ conscious than the competition, we need to communicate to users that learning to use Emacs is like learning to ride a bicycle -- it does take some time and effort, it's a worth-while skill to have, and then you never forget. [...]