In other words, it's vi with a few changes. I still can't navigate while typing, or delete while navigating, or search while deleting. As I tried to remember all those weird incantations that I last used in the mid 1970s, I felt as though I was in a time warp.
Guess why Apple Writer was so popular in 1979 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Writer), in spite of its many limitations? I wrote Apple Writer specifically to avoid the handicaps built into vi, which was the default editor in those times. After Apple Writer came out, people would write articles saying things like, "My God! With Apple Writer, you can read files, write files, type, navigate and search without having to change modes! How did Lutus do it?"
The answer is simple. Apple Writer wasn't so extraordinary, but I wasn't mentally crippled by the vi code base or method of operation, and I wasn't averse to exposing people to new ideas. But you know what? If I was told that people would still be using vi thirty-four years later, and boasting about its wonderfulness, I would have fallen down laughing.
Even pico and nano are easier to use, and they're desperately weak.
I shouldn't complain. Apple Writer made me a multimillionaire through the simple virtue of not being vi, and little else. I should thank you people.