[ Carrying on with my last message which fled a bit too soon...]
As you have probably figured out by now, I LIKE EMACS. There isn't
much I want to change about it.
I agree with the idea that there isn't a single user that the
defaults are written for. Mostly we try to not inflict permanent
confusion/harm upon users while they learn. Beyond that, it's
guesswork and the semi-mystical art of design, because users
arrive with so many biases from past experiences.