*BSD News Article 90028


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From: "Mathew E. Kirsch" <matt2@ctg.com>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy,comp.os.os2.advocacy
Subject: Re: Betting on Unix
Date: Fri, 21 Feb 1997 16:57:45 -0500
Organization: None
Lines: 26
Message-ID: <330E1A59.21F50378@ctg.com>
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> > Sorry, power I can agree with, but usability?  That's an utter and
> > total crock.  Vi is the single most user hostile application I have
> > ever had the misfortune of using or trying to teach another to use.
> >
> > -- Sang.
> 
> I agree with Sang - can you image your [typical] windoze user trying to
> operate vi?   :-)

vi take some getting used to, that's all.
I started out using vi, and got so frustrated that I gave up.
Eventually, I _had_ to learn it for a class, and I've been using it ever
since. vi is no different than, say, WordPerfect 5.1, as far as user
friendliness goes, yet PC people always loved WordPerfect 5.1. I could
never understand why until I learned the key combinations. 

I'll be the first to admit that vi's operation is a little less than
intuitive, but what you lose in intuitiveness, you gain back in power,
efficiency, and speed. Because vi is less intuitive, you have to invest
a little more brain power into learning it, but once you've learned it,
it is like knowing how to ride a bicycle: You never forget.

The people with the attitude that "vi is satan incarnate" will never
learn to appreciate its efficiency and power, simply because they refuse
to try and learn the syntax. Learning vi is paramount to learning UNIX,
as it teaches you to think in a unix mindset.