While trying to come up with an apt analogy for why it's not OK to use Notepad and pico, I found one that I'm happy with:

Using emacs or vi is like playing Halo.

You are faced with an intimidating number of controls in the beginning, but once you learn how to do stuff like melee, jump, duck, snipe and switch grenades, you're a much better player for it.

Eventually, you don't even have to think about what you're doing — never mind looking down at the controller — it just comes naturally.

"Like playing the piano" is an often-used analogy; since, we are computer geeks, I prefer "like switching to the shotgun and firing right as your enemy lunges with the plasma sword". It takes a bit of learning, but once you master the move, it will save your ass again and again.

I think that people who avoid vi and emacs place a low ceiling on how much they can do with their editor; it's like playing Halo without knowing anything but moving and shooting because it's a pain the the butt to learn all the "unnecessary" moves.

It's the same way with emacs macros — I didn't touch them for the first two years I used emacs. Now that I know a little about them, they turn a CSV-to-SQL conversion from a laborious hassle to a 30-second task.

If you invest the time and effort to learn all the cool moves — understanding that you don't need to master them all at once — you kick more ass. And programmers spend so much time in their editor of choice, it's worth kicking ass.

And, if that hasn't convinced you, maybe this will: The first time I used emacs (on VMWare), I got so frustrated about the commands that I had to reboot my computer just to exit the program. And now I use it religiously. It's got to have something going for it, no?

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