However, the cited rationale can't really be revisionist of what RMS told Olin, because it was published in 1981, about 14 months before Olin came to MIT in 1982.
It appears verbatim in RMS's paper, "EMACS: The Extensible, Customizable, Self-Documenting Display Editor," A.I. Memo 519a, ftp://publications.ai.mit.edu/ai-publications/pdf/AIM-519A.pdf (March 26, 1981). He doesn't mention an efficiency justification in there.
The whole document is also fascinating for including RMS's nascent but not-fully-baked early thinking about free software.
However, the cited rationale can't really be revisionist of what RMS told Olin, because it was published in 1981, about 14 months before Olin came to MIT in 1982.
It appears verbatim in RMS's paper, "EMACS: The Extensible, Customizable, Self-Documenting Display Editor," A.I. Memo 519a, ftp://publications.ai.mit.edu/ai-publications/pdf/AIM-519A.pdf (March 26, 1981). He doesn't mention an efficiency justification in there.
The whole document is also fascinating for including RMS's nascent but not-fully-baked early thinking about free software.