Why Emacs? Why Org?

Emacs is the most powerful text editing environment out there. Emacs comes with org mode.

Org Mode brings the power of Emacs to text editing. Org mode will make you Turing Complete when editing text: you'll be able to solve a bigger category of problems with your text editor. You will write text files that include code which can read, process, and modify the text file. You will use all you know as a programmer to write text. You will use CSS to produce beautiful documents, and you will use git to collaborate with your peers.

Problems that you would previously assume you need a special purpose program / machine for it, you will realize you can solve with your Turing Complete text editor. By using the same tool over and over, you will become ever more productive with it. You will build synergy by re-utilizing solutions for the different problems you solve with your text editing tool.

To name a few use cases, you will find that you can write presentation w/ org mode, but also to manage your calendar and write e-mails, and to manipulate tables, read and create bookmarks on PDF, and, dammit, even to write code. The trick you pulled to add an e-mail feature will be same you use when editing source code. Every work day will build upon the capital you've been built up to the previous day.

(Star Wars background required)

Common IDEs are like laser blasters. You point and you click, and sure it even gets the job done. Every storm trooper can use it. In fact, it was designed for that: a tool to be quickly learned and used by low capacity workers.

Emacs is like a lightsaber. It's dangerous AF. You often get burned using it, and most people are afraid of yielding it. Most people get put off by it. It's too crude. "Why so hard" they ask. Nonetheless, it is the weapon of choice for the most powerful warriors in the galaxy. These warriors seek the most power weapon. The one they can carry everywhere, and help them solve the most problems. Sure the tool is hard for them as well, but the hardness of the tool is no match for their will, in fact, hardness is soon seen as elegance. Emacs is a noble weapon for noble warriors.

Sure, it might take a few weeks before you become productive with it, but it is a price you pay only once. This small investment will be payed over a lifetime of increased productivity.

I guarantee you: if you manage to stick through the first weeks of clumsiness, you will soon not be minding about shortcuts anymore. You will be glad you can quickly query the Emacs documentation to figure out what you need. The shortcuts you use the most you will naturally learn. In case anything goes wrong, you will be setting breakpoints on the Emacs source code to figure out what went wrong. If need need help memorizing commands, you will use Emacs to help you learn what you need.