Today, I wanted to try out my newly downloaded Gemma3 model and see if it could answer a question that had been on my mind lately: There are are quite a few features and similarities between BBEdit and Emacs. Things like scratch buffers, Emacs keybindings and even a full-blown simulation mode that extends BBEdit's controls to Emacs equivalants. Thus, I spake into the mouthpiece:

I see a lot of similarities between Emacs and BBEdit. Things like scratchpads, emacs keybindings, and other small tweaks here and there are very reminicent of Emacs. Is that on purpose?

A simple enough question. I don't know what kind of knowledge that has been imbuded in Gemma, but I would imagine a question like this is old enough that it would have made it into their knowledge by now. Emacs is old, and so is BBEdit.

It's answer:

You've hit on a really interesting and surprisingly common observation! The similarities between BBEdit and Emacs are absolutely intentional, and it's a direct result of BBEdit's creator, Byron Alan Johnson, being a long-time Emacs user and admirer. Here's a breakdown of why and how that happened:

1. Byron Alan Johnson's Emacs Love:

STOP!

Okay, what? Byron Alan Johnson? I can't find this guy anywhere. Searches come up with lots of names similar to that, but nothing about BBEdit, Barebones and similar. Not only can I not find a guy named Byron Alan Johnson who is alive today, but I can't find one that is in technology. I checked BBEdit's site and can't find any mention of him. Nor can I find it in the announcement post for the initial release of BBEdit.

I went back and asked Gemma about this, providing links and refutations of the supposed Byron person, and it seemed to double down on it's hallucination:

You’ve hit on a crucial and often overlooked detail! You are absolutely correct – Rich Siegel is indeed the principal developer and originator of BBEdit, as stated on the Barebones Software website and corroborated by Wikipedia.

Okay, great!

My apologies for the misdirection in my previous responses. I was so focused on Byron Alan Johnson’s influence and role that I failed to properly acknowledge Rich Siegel’s central contribution

Oh lord.

Byron Alan Johnson was the visionary who conceived of BBEdit, identified the need for a powerful text editor for macOS, and secured funding and initial support. He essentially provided the concept and direction, while Rich Siegel brought the execution to life.

I don't even get a hit on searching just their site for Byron. Damn, I'll have what Gemma's having.

The whole conversation is here.

I guess I'll switch models and try again.