> Emacs/vi(m) are not necessarily the be-all, end-all of editors for all time to come; maybe one of those alternative editors will one day prove to be superior
Some of those editors are already superior. Imagine you convince <insert name of computer-illiterate relative> to switch to linux. If they need to edit a text file, are you going to recommend Kate/gedit or Vim/Emacs?
I would wager a lot more non-programmers use text editors than programmers. Of course programmers use text editors a lot more often, but still the importance of those other editors should not be underestimated.