Since posting this article, I have started a series of HOWTOs for Emacs covering installation, usage and advanced tips & tricks.

A while ago I decided I needed a new text editor. My criteria were:

1. Cross-platform; needs to work on at least Ubuntu Linux, MacOSX, MS Windows.
2. Powerful; needs things like macros, plugins, keybindings, column-editing, and source control integration.
3. Self-contained; needs to run on MS Windows off a USB memory stick without installation (rather like Thunderbird Portable, of which I'm greatly enamoured)
4. Free (gratis); I need to be able to sit down at a machine, any machine, and start using it without worrying about license costs.

In the end, one editor in particular stood out (cartoon courtesy xkcd) ...

Emacs is free (both libre, and gratis). XEmacs runs happily on MS Windows from a USB memory stick (and yes, I know, Emacs and XEmacs are most certainly not the same thing). Emacs is also highly customizable and very feature-rich (as these quotes make clear).

So, I've installed Emacs on all the systems I use myself, put a copy of XEmacs for MS Windows on my USB memory stick, and armed with a few good resources, have embarked upon a climb up the learning curve. Already I'm more productive with Emacs than with any environment other than Visual Studio & soon I hope to be more so.