> Just compare the out of box experience for both VSCode and Emacs One thing I learned after using, designing, and building tons of different software products

> Just compare the out of box experience for both VSCode and Emacs One thing I learned after using, designing, and building tons of different software products - there's often a strong correlation between something that is seemingly complex and difficult to start with and then gained simplicity later. Conversely, something that is very easy to get into often becomes extremely difficult to use later, slowing you down with a bunch of arbitrary drawbacks simply because it was never designed for "advanced power users" to begin with. Road to simplicity is rarely a straightforward and effortless journey. For many people, the most - it's just easier to choose "fast food" of features, instead of painstakingly figuring out how to "make your own burger". And they never build a mental model of "being a cook", they just learn to consume what they've given. There's nothing wrong with that. Except that they often confuse the "there's no other way" with the illusion of "it just works". Applying to the concrete example you're using, it would take me maybe just 10-15 minutes to whip up an Elisp function that would open each file in its own tab. I don't do that because there are many more empowering and productive ways than having each file in its own tab. Like Einstein one said: "What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right".