I like the posts of Randy Ridenour because he’s (definitely) a non-technical user who nevertheless has managed to learn and use Emacs in an advanced way.
One indication of this is his post on inserting bible passages. As Ridenour says, it’s not a capability that many people need but what impresses me is that he managed—despite not being a programmer—to write some Elisp to help with this. Sure, maybe you could do better—even Ridenour admits this—but, again, he’s not a programmer. I find this inspiring and a testament to the power of Emacs and the ability of any reasonably intelligent person, even if they lack technical expertise, to make effective use of even the advanced features of Emacs.
Last week, I wrote about Ridenour’s contribution to the Emacs Carnival Writing Experience. This week, Ridenour accepts the Emacs Carnival Elevator Pitch challenge. I think his pitch is the response that best adheres to the restrictions of an elevator pitch. It’s short, non technical, and will make perfect sense to anyone, technical or not. Doubtless there’s someone who can adduce a counter example but all-in-all I find his argument persuasive.
As I’ve said before, I think the elevator pitch challenge is particularly difficult but Ridenour’s solution seems like the perfect response: short and persuasive.