This is another post that discusses a talk from EmacsConf 2021. This one, by Karl Voit, is about the Org-mode markup language. Org markup is superior to its competitors—sorry Markdowners, you know it is—but suffers from the fact that it’s strongly tied to Emacs. Part of the problem is that the name “Org-mode” is used both for the markup language and for the implementation of the Emacs package that includes the language and much more.
Voit’s suggestion, as discussed in his talk The use of Org mode syntax outside of GNU/Emacs, is to consider the markup language as a separate entity and rename it to Orgdown to avoid confusion between the language and its implementation in Emacs. In addition to his post about Orgdown, you can watch his EmacsConf talk about it.
He has more to say, of course, than just, “Hey, let’s rename the Org-mode markup language.” His proposition is well thought-out and already supported by a repository on GitLab with documentation. His video is just over 12 minutes and definitely worth watching if you have any interest in the Org-mode language even if you aren’t an Emacs user. It’s also enjoyable to watch because it has excellent production values.
There has been some pushback on his proposal but most of it seems to be borderline ankle biting about his choice of name, “Orgdown”. There’s a lot more to his proposal than a name, of course, so be sure to read or watch what that proposal is before you make up your mind about it.
As an Emacs user, none of this is vital to me but I do think it’s a good idea and that it could provide a much needed standard lightweight markup language. Markdown, of course, was intended to fill that roll but it has splintered into several dialects. Voit’s suggestion is intended to avoid that.