[394] in Release_7.7_team
Emacs19 and my suggestions for an upcoming meeting
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (dryfoo@MIT.EDU)
Wed Dec 20 15:16:57 1995
From: dryfoo@MIT.EDU
To: mbarker@MIT.EDU
Cc: release-team@MIT.EDU
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 15:16:47 EST
Dear Mike,
Judging by the reaction I've gotten, I haven't been taking enough care
to explain my concerns about the emacs19 implementation clearly. Let me
try to do that, and then, based on that, suggest some topics for
discussion at our next meeting.
First, I think I need to clear up any misunderstanding about my
willingness to produce a course or courses based on this new software
package: I always have been willing to, and am in fact eager to, produce
courses in a timely way to help our clients -- the Athena users. Since
the new users will find Emacs19 as their standard text editor, replacing
Emacs, I definitely want to have a course in place that will enable them
to use it.
What I have probably been saying the wrong way round is: I will need
some resources in order to produce that course, or course revisions, in
a timely way.
In my understanding of The New Way We're Supposed To Do Things Around
Here, I guess I would expect that there would be an "Emacs19 Transition
Team" (which should probably not be identical with our entire Release
Team); that there would be someone clearly in charge of that project
team, a 'champion', someone committed to accomplishing the project and
therefore anxious to help the team members find the resources they need.
When I propose a question about some difficulty or other in using this
new package, my purpose is (as I was lax in not pointing out explicitly)
to emphasize that there _are_ changes the users will see, which should
not be swept under the rug as inconsequential, but which should cause
the project's champion to come forward and say,
"I want this project to go forward, and so let us discuss what
resources/people/information you need to help me make this project
succeed."
Therefore, I suggest that at one of our next meetings,
-- we figure out a champion/project leader for Emacs19's
introduction,
-- we put together some/most of their Emacs19 introduction team,
-- we identify the team's resources, especially technical, so we
support types know where to go for the information we need to do our
part of the work.
-- we include in the project's list of goals: revisions to the
relevant minicourses and production of a fairly detailed fact sheet of
What's Changed for experienced users.
At this time it's obvious that Emacs19 will replace Emacs for new users
(or any users on some platforms) come Fall. If it hasn't been obvious
that I am as committed as ever to making sure users can find out what
they need to know to use the system well and happily, I hope this note
has helped ot clear that up.
Sincerely,
-- Gary L. Dryfoos
Athena Minicourse Training Administrator
