- Author
- Computer Things newsletter, posted under the account hillelwayne
- Published
- 21 October 2025
- Kind
- Newsletter post arguing a historical case, with reader comments
- Original
- buttondown.com/hillelwayne/archive/modal-editing-is-a-weird-historical-contingency
- Subject
- Software tools and craft
What it is
The post appears in the Computer Things newsletter on Buttondown. It argues that without vi, there would probably be no modal editors today. It is an opinion piece with some historical sourcing.
What it says
- The post argues that without Bill Joy's vi, probably no modal editors would exist today.
- It says that as far as the author can tell, Bravo in 1974 was first. Joy admits copying from a Bravo manual.
- It says Xerox dropped modes quickly, since the successors Gypsy and BravoX were modeless.
- The post argues vi spread by shipping free with BSD Unix, not through modes.
- It says other editors only emulate vim modes. It finds no modal word processor or spreadsheet.
- It says modes are global state with a high skill floor. It calls them a niche feature.
- It grants that Kakoune and Helix are modal but counts them as vi descendants.
What evidence it gives
The evidence is quotation and argument. The post quotes Bill Joy twice and cites the Alto handbook. It gives one number: at least eight million downloads for the Vim plugin for VSCode. Reader comments add the CTSS history and Charles Simonyi's story.
Interests and limits
The author says Neovim is the preferred editor, so the post is partly personal. The claim that vi would not be replaced is counterfactual and cannot be tested. A commenter argues modal editing, not vim, drew users. Another commenter says modal editors existed on CTSS in 1963 and 1964. The post is about editors only.