Why are there so many different hammers? Why don’t we use a single handle to which you can attach different heads, maybe even click on additional weight to a head, if needed?<p>That works for drills and drill bits because it’s relatively easy and because we don’t want to have 20+ drills each for a given drill bit, but even there, it only works to a given extent.<p>We have different versions of tools not only because we can, but sometimes because they work (sometimes slightly) better for the job at hand.<p>Also, editor shortcuts often are fairly standardized on an OS and for many users keeping the same macros isn’t worth much because they don’t have many. That makes the special features worth switching sooner.<p>In some sense, heavy macro users have climbed a hill that it’s hard to get off, if it turns out to be only a local optimum, and they spot a significantly higher hill.<p>Now, why do we have more editors than, say, spreadsheets or movie editors? I guess that’s because programmers use them more, making them think they can do better.