> If you took the modal interface away from vim, you wouldn't have vim anymore. If you don't want a modal interface, don't use vim.
The vast majority of people don't use vim, so this "solution" has already been widely adopted. (Which in turn causes people who like vim to periodically wonder why more people don't use it.)
The problem comes because there are scenarios where you don't have a choice as to which editor to use; if you're shelling into a server with limited privileges, for instance, vi/vim may be the only even remotely modern editor available. So lots of people find themselves forced to use it, and these are the people for whom the Stack Overflow thread is useful.
> you don't have a choice as to which editor to use
Like... nano? Or pico? All quite broadly available, and easy as dirt to use. You can even use them to work with `visudo`, one of the few times where I could imagine you don't have a choice.
Also, if you can edit it remotely over SSH, you can scp it in two directions and use your own favorite editor (assuming that editor doesn't already have something like network editing already built in; most do).
If you "don't have a choice", you're not looking hard enough.
> The problem comes because there are scenarios where you don't have a choice as to which editor to use; if you're shelling into a server with limited privileges, for instance, vi/vim may be the only even remotely modern editor available. So lots of people find themselves forced to use it, and these are the people for whom the Stack Overflow thread is useful.
That doesn't sound like a reason to change vim, it sounds like a reason to change the configuration of the server to something saner. pico/nano makes sense to me, if the expected users are the kinds that wouldn't know how to exit vim or emacs.
SSHing into a server implies a basic level of technical competence. The user presumably already knows cd, mv, ls, and family. Why would expecting the user to know a touch of VIM be out of place?
That said, any server admin who for whatever reason allows people to SSH in (shared hosting maybe, university, file sharing) should have nano installed. Anything else is just cruel!:wq
The vast majority of people don't use vim, so this "solution" has already been widely adopted. (Which in turn causes people who like vim to periodically wonder why more people don't use it.)
The problem comes because there are scenarios where you don't have a choice as to which editor to use; if you're shelling into a server with limited privileges, for instance, vi/vim may be the only even remotely modern editor available. So lots of people find themselves forced to use it, and these are the people for whom the Stack Overflow thread is useful.