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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    GNU Emacs

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AGNU Emacs is described as a free extensible and customizable text editor for the Lisp programming language.N/A

    UltraEdit

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/AUltraEdit is a text editor from IDM Computer Solutions headquartered in Hamilton.N/A
    Pricing
    GNU EmacsUltraEdit
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    GNU EmacsUltraEdit
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Best Alternatives
    GNU EmacsUltraEdit
    Small Businesses
    BBEdit
    Score9.1 out of 10
    BBEdit
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Vim
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Vim
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Vim
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Vim
    Score8.3 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    GNU EmacsUltraEdit
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.2
    (4 ratings)
    10.0
    (7 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    9.9
    (4 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    GNU EmacsUltraEdit
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Open Source
    Emacs is best utilized on a Unix system where it can be easily installed and accessed. It allows for quick editing of files on a system whether you are accessing it locally through the console or remotely via an ssh connection. Once users familiarize themselves with the Emacs shortcuts, it becomes a pretty efficient text manipulation program. On a standard Windows computer, it is less likely to use Emacs for code editing, especially if you have a local repository on your host machine.
    Incentivized
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    IDM Computer Solutions
    UltraEdit is well suited for editing very large files. The macro editor is very powerful and easy to use. If one needs a quick-to-open text file editor, you will find UltraEdit much too slow to load. Compared to some free editors on the market, the basic individual user license is quite expensive.
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    Pros
    Open Source
    • GNU Emacs is a text editor that can do almost anything that you want to do with it. It is fairly easy to extend the functionality using Emacs Lisp with a large library available.
    • It can be easily customized using themes as well as custom code to change the look and feel as well as how everything works.
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    IDM Computer Solutions
    • Search and replace in files that are not open
    • Cut and paste columns - I don't know any other program that can do this!
    • Is a super fast and powerful text editor.
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    Cons
    Open Source
    • Emacs is old, so it's a little crufty and not too easy to pick up and start using. There is a community package called Spacemacs that simplifies a lot of things that you do with Emacs. It is probably better suited to beginners.
    • Sometimes, the choices that were made to integrate certain functionality change the basic models for that functionality. This is seen primarily in the version control system support, where multiple version control systems are supported and "unified" to a standard Emacs-y way of doing things. This can be confusing to the new user not familiar with the Emacs way.
    • Emacs has, as its foundation, a lisp interpreter. This means that the extension language for Emacs is emacs-lisp. Some people find lisp hard to understand and have difficulties writing Emacs extension code, or understanding existing code.
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    IDM Computer Solutions
    • The color coding capacity is rudimentary and keyword based only. A good color coding mechanism should allow context.
    • With the latest versions, the top menu has a lot of big icons and has a user-friendly kind of look which impacts the actual text window. Most users don't fancy pretty icons and like efficiency over pretty buttons.
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    Usability
    Open Source
    No answers on this topic
    IDM Computer Solutions
    As a program UltraEdit comes ready to use out of the box and requires very little setup for it to be extremely useful. It's flexibility among a wide array of tasks and files makes it a go-to for all our troubleshooting and data viewing needs. Timely updates and great support.
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    Support Rating
    Open Source
    Everything that you need to know about Emacs can be found on the internet. There are many Emacs "cheat sheets" that list out all of the shortcuts for Emacs. There are videos on how to use Emacs. Emacs is easily installed using the standard Linux package managers and can also be easily updated through them as well. There are tutorials on how to customize Emacs to your liking.
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    IDM Computer Solutions
    Have never needed support, not once. So giving them a 10 for the fact that their product is so good that we've never needed it.
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    Alternatives Considered
    Open Source
    Of course, Vim is a good contender for comparison as well, so I'll include it. I find Emacs much easier to learn, which will help speed up productivity for newer users. It seems much faster than VIM and VSCode, especially under load. It's highly highly customizable, in ways other editors don't stack up against. Its lack of bloat also is a nice addition to a great product.
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    IDM Computer Solutions
    I have evaluated Notepad++ as an alternative to UltraEdit. In some cases, such as loading time, Notepad++ is a superior product. However, in terms of editing existing macros, and editing very large text files UltraEdit is a much better product.
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    Return on Investment
    Open Source
    • Emacs is free software, there is no cost at all.
    • It has helped tremendously in situations where many, or large, log files need to be searched.
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    IDM Computer Solutions
    • Its ease of use and functionality make it fast and reliable which saves my designers time.
    • Its simplicity makes it fast and easy to train new users.
    • UE's guidance features make it a great tool with a good ROI.
    Incentivized
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