If you had spent any significant amount of time using TextMate, you would not make statements like this. Because everything you just said about emacs applies equally, if not moreso.
Spend a week in TextMate, and you will similarly “get it”, as many emacs power users already have.
I used textmate for over a year. I get it, but emacs is more powerful. I decided the painful learning curve was worth it because I use my text editor for at least 8 hours every day. Plus, with emacs I"m not tied to the mac platform and a non free program.
Okay. I have used both extensively: emacs for several months, and then TextMate for the last 2 years, and I find TextMate more powerful. I decided the painful learning curve wasn't worth it, because it made the editor less flexible, and it made what flexibility it does have unpleasant to exploit.
And I'm a certified machead, so that was no object.
Spend a week in TextMate, and you will similarly “get it”, as many emacs power users already have.