Re: /\ Mess, upward compatibility

[Moon at MIT-AI (David A. Moon)]

I was assuming that if this change is made, in the Lisp machine there
will be a new -*- entry, Syntax:Lisp meaning the new standard,
Syntax:Oldslash meaning the old way.  This would minimize the
immediate need for painful file conversion.  We could even defer
making Syntax:Lisp the default for a while. This would affect both the
Lisp reader and the editor.  This Syntax: property is scheduled to be
installed anyway, to ease other syntax extensions, mostly by users
rather than the system.

Unfortunately things aren't so easy in the case of Maclisp and Emacs.