How about instead the Emacs website and splash screen recommends different `flavours' of Emacs instead? Such as Doom and Prelude for example. No reason to change vanilla Emacs.
Stop having Emacs be the recommended way to install and use Emacs.
If only there were projects that repackaged Emacs together with packages which adapt the program for people who prefer other keybindings. And failing that, maybe Emacs should include some facility for remapping key bindings?
I tried Ergo Emacs, because I like Xah Lee's attitude to modernization, but even somebody so willing to abandon old defaults can't make Emacs feel modern. Emacs makes assumptions like "a document has a backing file on disk" and "a cursor has a location on screen" that only make sense with obsolete hardware. The weird janky feeling is embedded too deep for any easy fix.
> If only there were projects that repackaged Emacs together with packages which adapt the program for people who prefer other keybindings. And failing that, maybe Emacs should include some facility for remapping key bindings?
The sarcasm here isn't warranted, the request wasn't for for distros of emacs to exist, but for them to be promoted to prospective users on the emacs website over a bare install.
My objection isn't to repackaging emacs with new defaults, but promoting forks and such on the emacs site. That's not what GNU does with other forks historically either.
What'd be the point of it all? There are perhaps dozens to hundreds of personal takes on emacs on Github and around the web. emacs will remain as it is, it isn't for some people and that's OK.
As I understand it, these distros aren't forks at all. Promoting them would give an emacs beginner a better onboarding experience, and make it less likely that prospective new users give up in frustration.
Stop having Emacs be the recommended way to install and use Emacs.