Fedora Developers Looking To Change The Default Text Editor From Vi To Nano

[ssokolow]

Yes. I'd have to be against selling someone else's open source work to be against selling ones' own open source work.

Also, they do have this:



And there really isn't anything wrong with trying to find a balance between supporting open source and supporting the project; especially if it'll end up being freer than GPL'd code.

For lulz -- reading their Governing Law/Jurisdiction section, if they were one state south, there's a decent chance that I could fork their project and re-license it with next to no legal ramifications since my state and Oregon don't usually cooperate or extradite criminals with one another

Anyone here in a state or country that doesn't cooperate with King County, Washington could technically fork it and change its license w/o issues.

Now that sort of "commits become proper open source after a delay window" thing is a different story.

It looks like they're aiming for a price point I'm not comfortable with, but I'll definitely give it a try once commits start showing up in the MIT repository and, if I like what I see, I'll recommend it to friends who may be more willing to pay for the non-MIT version.

[mrugiero]

That's because the tiny editor I use is the best.

Out of all the things in life, nothing is more important than tiny editors. Not space travel, not curing diseases, not replacing fossil fuels, not making love to someone who loves you...tiny editors are what matters most

They say the key to happiness is in the small things, after all.

[skeevy420]

Now that sort of "commits become proper open source after a delay window" thing is a different story.

It looks like they're aiming for a price point I'm not comfortable with, but I'll definitely give it a try once commits start showing up in the MIT repository and, if I like what I see, I'll recommend it to friends who may be more willing to pay for the non-MIT version.

I don't necessarily know that I like the 18 month delay, but I do like the concept of delayed full-openness if it means a project might get the funding it needs to survive the long haul.

I can tell you right now that the MIT version will likely not be that good for the first year-ish. It is very, very plain and bare bones in its current state, and the MIT version will be based on earlier code than my appimage from last night. Like I said earlier, it's more about what it aims to become over what it currently is. Right now it has a few basic themes, a few options, a file tree browser, and a bit more.

If I didn't get in early for $1, I'd opt for something like NeoVim-QT if I wanted/needed a GUI, SpaceVim for a preconfigured environment, or just Vim going full-on DIY and then wait and see what Oni becomes before I made a decision about them...but since I have a license...you know, think positive and happy thoughts and hope for the best and all that.

Michael should consider something similar for the PTS -- like a $10 paid Pro version with a 6 month feature lag until Pro features added to the Free version or access to alpha/beta versions in development before they're pushed to public git -- since I doubt very many end-users need whatever is offered for commercial users like enterprise addons and training but would still like to support Phoronix and the PTS in some manner that feels more tangible than a donate button.

[royce]

I haven't used vi or vim for editing for 10+ years because, frankly, when I code I have much more capable IDEs, and when I do need to edit something on a terminal, it is usually a 5 second job where nano works perfectly well. Makes complete sense to me they're switching defaults here.

[mrugiero]

I don't necessarily know that I like the 18 month delay, but I do like the concept of delayed full-openness if it means a project might get the funding it needs to survive the long haul.

I can tell you right now that the MIT version will likely not be that good for the first year-ish. It is very, very plain and bare bones in its current state, and the MIT version will be based on earlier code than my appimage from last night. Like I said earlier, it's more about what it aims to become over what it currently is. Right now it has a few basic themes, a few options, a file tree browser, and a bit more.

If I didn't get in early for $1, I'd opt for something like NeoVim-QT if I wanted/needed a GUI, SpaceVim for a preconfigured environment, or just Vim going full-on DIY and then wait and see what Oni becomes before I made a decision about them...but since I have a license...you know, think positive and happy thoughts and hope for the best and all that.

Michael should consider something similar for the PTS -- like a $10 paid Pro version with a 6 month feature lag until Pro features added to the Free version or access to alpha/beta versions in development before they're pushed to public git -- since I doubt very many end-users need whatever is offered for commercial users like enterprise addons and training but would still like to support Phoronix and the PTS in some manner that feels more tangible than a donate button.

Maybe we (the users) should make a mea culpa before judging. If we weren't cheap and we'd donate to projects we use, everything would be perfectly able to be free AND well maintained. Since we don't (as a majority) donate, a promise of future open sourcing may be a good deal to satisfy both ends.

[Hugh]

At 43 years old, the Vi editor predates the IT careers of everyone here. Like QWERTY keyboards, it's precisely because of its decades of existence and common use, that it has become so intuitive and familiar.

Not true. I was around before vi. And I was repelled by it when it was first released (it was a horrible pig on a PDP-11). I still don't know how to use it. I use something halfway between nano and EMACS.

nano is a great choice for a default. Anybody capable of using vi ought to be capable of changing a default.

I'd almost like ed as a default (as it was in the good old days) but that's too old-school.

[pal666]

The keyboard has a standard QWERTY layout

it doesn't have standard physical key location. it's hard for me even to switch between different enter shapes or backspace locations

[reavertm]

I will help reconcile Vi vs nano conflict that erupted here. mcedit is the obvious choice for the default editor.
Vi cannot be dismissed however as it's up there, together with MS-DOS Editor, carefully designed to help nerdy men impress ladies through decades with their ability to exit the editor.

[coder]

it doesn't have standard physical key location. it's hard for me even to switch between different enter shapes or backspace locations

Well, at least you're not switching between dvorak and querty.

Seriously, though, I guess you don't use a laptop (or you always use a laptop)? I don't see how you can be so non-portable, unless you do nearly all of your typing on one model of keyboard.

[birdie]

I will help reconcile Vi vs nano conflict that erupted here. mcedit is the obvious choice for the default editor.
Vi cannot be dismissed however as it's up there, together with MS-DOS Editor, carefully designed to help nerdy men impress ladies through decades with their ability to exit the editor.

mcedit has been my editor of choice ever since I started using Linux.

It closely resembles Volkov Commander/Norton Commander/Dos Navigator/Far editors - with Dos Navigator of course being the most powerful and featureful. God I miss it so much.