As an old-school guy who can touch type quickly, I absolutely hate autoindent, automatic closing curlies, syntax highlighting, and even particularly the temporary jump to a partly typed search string, highlighted and all, until you cancel the search and zap, you're no longer there.

It is possible to work without all that stuff, and once the habit is formed, it is sticky. I fully understand that most people now are habituated the other way, and plain editing would feel strange.