The infamous Word versus LaTex paper that I wrote about previously has taken on a new life as a gag. Every instance of “Word” in the paper was replaced with “Emacs” and every instance of “LaTex” was replaced with “Vim.” All the links were changed to point to a page of Hahahas. The result was a fake PLOS ONE paper purporting to show that Emacs users were more efficient than Vim users.
The most amusing thing about the joke was how successful it was. A number of Emacs users pointed to it with glee as proof of Emacs’ superiority. Emacs is superior, of course, but as much as we Emacs lovers might wish it otherwise, a competent Vim user is going to be more efficient at editing text than an equally competent Emacs user. The reason for that is that Vi/Vim commands are composable.
I maintain my belief that Emacs users are more productive overall than Vim users but many near and dear to me disagree. The best lesson to draw from the joke is that the Emacs versus Vim debate’s status as a holy war is affirmed. Why else would so many people be ready—eager—to believe an obviously fake paper?