[oi-dev] Making VIM run in a modern mode by default

[Denys Rtveliashvili]

Hello Volker,

The list of gains is huge but the most obvious to me are:
a) syntax highlighting makes it easier to read code and configuration files
b) navigation is possible with arrow keys, page-up/down, home/end
c) selecting blocks of texts and running regexps over them is trivial

And I see not a single downside in the non-compatible vim mode.

I have never seen it not working in a limited environment. As long as 
terminal is correctly specified it acts accordingly.

Yes, OpenIndiana is not Linux. But does it mean that it should be worse 
than Linux?

"vi" is a system utility, no question about it. But it is not "ed" or 
"sed". It is used by real human beings. And that's why I would like it 
to be more human oriented.

The original Solaris "vi" also was not set in stone I suppose. Surely it 
was updated over time as people needed a useful tool.

Well to me the olden "vi" is broken. I cannot use it without much 
shivering. I prefer a tool which was polished by many people to be an 
excellent, if not best, text editor. Why would I want to use a 
fossilised "vi" mode which has not effectively developed with time if 
there is a better tool doing all the same thing plus many more?

Really, can you name a few actual examples why "non compatible" mode is 
worse than a "compatible" one?

> Hello Denys!
>
>
>> VIM runs in non-compatible mode by default on many if not all Linux
>> distributions and frankly I see no reasons why would someone want to
>> have it in "compatible" mode.
> Because this is not Linux, and the "system" vi should be as close to
> the original Solaris vi it replaced.
>
> Why can't you just set that for your user account?  What is the gain?
> Remember that the system vi may be used in a limited environment,
> such as a serial system console.  Don't fix things that aren't broken.
>
>
> Regards -- Volker