> if it didn't, it would launch to little more than an elisp REPL by default.

I'm confused. Have things changed? The scratch buffer it starts with is for writing elisp.

> this is a shipped feature that _does not function_ without changes to the defaults!

Do you know how many shipped features come with Emacs that don't function without changes to defaults?

A huge number of them! Stuff like hippie-expand, ibuffer, etc. This isn't something new - it's been that way for decades.

> Good defaults ensure that Emacs doesn't repel new users and casual users and users who are not interested in fiddling.

This has been argued to death forever. While even I think they can and should change some defaults, the reality is that Emacs as an ecosystem is doing just fine without so many new/casual users, and will continue to do so. They don't want to be something for everyone.

And while I don't have the latest Emacs, in my experience with eglot - it's simply not ready for the masses. I frequently get timeouts, and would often have to shut down and restart eglot. It's been a while since I had to, so perhaps they've fixed all the issues, but it's simply not as robust as what you'd get with other IDEs. I'd rather they address those issues than the ease of use.