-First of all, they're both GNU Emacs. XEmacs is just as much a later
-version of GNU Emacs as the FSF-distributed version. This FAQ refers to
-the latest version to be distributed by the FSF as ``Emacs,'' partly
-because the XEmacs maintainers now refer to their product using the
-``XEmacs'' name, and partly because there isn't any accurate way to
-differentiate between the two without getting mired in paragraphs of
-legalese and history.
-
-XEmacs, which began life as Lucid Emacs, is based on an early version of
-Emacs 19 and Epoch, an X-aware version of Emacs 18.
-
-Emacs (i.e., the version distributed by the FSF) has a larger installed
-base and now always contains the MULE multilingual facilities.
-XEmacs can do some clever tricks with X and MS-Windows, such as
-putting arbitrary graphics in a buffer. Similar facilities have been
-implemented for Emacs as part of a new redisplay implementation for
-Emacs 21, and are available in the latest Emacs releases.
-Emacs and XEmacs each come with
-Lisp packages that are lacking in the other; RMS says that the FSF would
-include more packages that come with XEmacs, but that the XEmacs
-maintainers don't always keep track of the authors of contributed code,
-which makes it impossible for the FSF to have certain legal papers
-signed. (Without these legal papers, the FSF will not distribute Lisp
-packages with Emacs.) The two versions have some
-significant differences at the Lisp programming level.
-
-Many XEmacs features have found their way into recent versions of Emacs,
-and more features can be expected in the future, but there are still many
-differences between the two.
-
-The latest stable version of XEmacs as of this writing is 21.1; you can
-get it at
-
-@uref{ftp://ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/current/xemacs-21.1.13.tar.gz}
-
-More information about XEmacs, including a list of frequently asked
-questions (FAQ), is available at
-
-@uref{http://www.xemacs.org/}
+XEmacs is a branch version of Emacs. It was first called Lucid Emacs,
+and was initially derived from a prerelease version of Emacs 19. In
+this FAQ, we use the name ``Emacs'' only for the official version.
+
+Emacs and XEmacs each come with Lisp packages that are lacking in the
+other. The two versions have some significant differences at the Lisp
+programming level. Their current features are roughly comparable,
+though the support for some operating systems, character sets and
+specific packages might be quite different.
+
+Some XEmacs code has been contributed to Emacs, and we would like to
+use other parts, but the earlier XEmacs maintainers did not always
+keep track of the authors of contributed code, which makes it
+impossible for the FSF to get copyright papers signed for that code.
+(The FSF requires these papers for all the code included in the Emacs
+release, aside from generic C support packages that retain their
+separate identity and are not integrated into the code of Emacs
+proper.)
+
+If you want to talk about these two versions and distinguish them,
+please call them ``Emacs'' and ``XEmacs.'' To contrast ``XEmacs''
+with ``GNU Emacs'' would be misleading, since XEmacs too has its
+origin in the work of the GNU Project. Terms such as ``Emacsen'' and
+``(X)Emacs'' are not wrong, but they are not very clear, so it
+is better to write ``Emacs and XEmacs.''