So... you're saying that the fundamental problem with Linux is that when logging in remotely from the command line it's not as easy to use as a GUI/Desktop environment?
I'd like to see you ssh into text-only Windows!
In any case, you find it hard because you don't understand it and I see no motivation on your part to spend any time trying to understand it. vi/vim is installed by default on most installs because vi has been a staple of using Unix systems for decades, it's part of the standard set of tools. And even if you just want to use it to edit text, I don't see any reason that you can't use it once you learn the basic commands:
* Esc or Ctrl-C to escape from Insert Mode
* i to enter Insert Mode
* :q from command mode to exit
Now you can use it to edit text files. Are you so hard up for keystrokes that you can't type an extra 1 or 2 in there somewhere? Are you just on some really slow connection or something? Sometimes I really don't understand people's resistance to anything that varies even slightly from what they deem to be 'normal.' Your argument against vim comes off to me like the people that will spend hours circling a parking lot so that they can park 8 ft. closer to the entrance to a store.
I seem to have put you on the defensive, and I apologize for having done so. You're mistaken that I don't want to learn, as evidenced by the fact that I'm here asking for help.
I do actually know how to use vi/vim, and have done so successfully for years. I just find it annoying that it behaves so differently from every other text editor that one comes across. Since this is an article stating that you can make vim behave like an IDE, I figured it would be a good place to ask if it were possible to make vim behave like an IDE in the text-editing sense. From what everybody is saying, it sounds like it's not possible.
Out of curiosity, how do you manage your remote servers if not via the command line? Do you have some sort of windowing environment set up on them that you access through a VNC client or similar? If it were possible to do away with the command line, I'd love to hear about it.
I'd like to see you ssh into text-only Windows!
In any case, you find it hard because you don't understand it and I see no motivation on your part to spend any time trying to understand it. vi/vim is installed by default on most installs because vi has been a staple of using Unix systems for decades, it's part of the standard set of tools. And even if you just want to use it to edit text, I don't see any reason that you can't use it once you learn the basic commands: * Esc or Ctrl-C to escape from Insert Mode * i to enter Insert Mode * :q from command mode to exit
Now you can use it to edit text files. Are you so hard up for keystrokes that you can't type an extra 1 or 2 in there somewhere? Are you just on some really slow connection or something? Sometimes I really don't understand people's resistance to anything that varies even slightly from what they deem to be 'normal.' Your argument against vim comes off to me like the people that will spend hours circling a parking lot so that they can park 8 ft. closer to the entrance to a store.
edit: forgot ':w' to save file to disk