I have officially retired from Emacs

A longtime programmer just did the unthinkable: after 20 years of daily use, he says he has officially walked away from Emacs, a beloved old-school writing and coding tool that many fans treat less like software and more like a lifestyle. He didn’t just leave quietly, either—he rebuilt two of his favorite Emacs tools as standalone apps and put several projects up for adoption. That instantly turned the comment section into a mix of wake, therapy session, and custody battle.

The biggest mood? Loss. One commenter called it a “big loss for the Emacs community,” while also pointing to the author’s wider “spring cleaning” phase—ditching a whole stack of power-user habits for a calmer setup. That sparked a very relatable side plot: is getting older in tech just realizing you’re tired of babysitting your own tools? People absolutely felt that. But not everyone was ready to clap. Some were confused and a little suspicious: if the long-term plan was to make Emacs act more like Vim, another famous editor, why build separate apps instead of staying put? That question became the thread’s mini-drama.

Then came the eternal editor war. Several commenters basically said, “I’ve dated both sides, and honestly, neither is the flawless soulmate.” One admitted switching back and forth for years, while another said Vim felt faster but still had annoying gaps. And in peak comment-section fashion, one person used the moment to ask the internet for a replacement for Magit, a popular coding helper, because apparently every software breakup inspires three more. The vibes were equal parts grief, debate, and “please recommend me something better.”