Why is Vim no longer installed in 12.04 desktops and is there a better alternative?

Question

What are the reasons and alternatives to the removal of Vim from a default Ubuntu installation since Oneiric 11.10?

Answer 1

Usually, packages are removed from the default installation due to space constraint. CDs are limited ( and so does DVD ), and there is pressure to add more translations, to support more hardware ( especially with big binary blobs like the Nvidia driver ), etc.

So usually, packagers take a look at what can be safely removed ( ie, without removing important use case of a default distribution ). In the case of vim, there is already gedit and nano to fill the position and I would say that people who use vim are able to install it from the archive without much problem.

Answer 2

I think most desktop user use nano or gedit... if you install Ubuntu Server vim is still installed by default.

If you type vim on a 12.04 desktop you get:

The program 'vim' can be found in the following packages:
 * vim
 * vim-gnome
 * vim-tiny
 * vim-athena
 * vim-gtk
 * vim-nox

Try installing any of these with sudo apt-get install <selected package>

Answer 3

You can install the vim editor simply by typing sudo apt-get install vim in terminal.

Good alternatives for vim are nano,the vi editor or if you prefer a GUI experience rather than terminal you can use gedit which is installed by default or a more simple editor like leafpad,or the GTK+ version of vim which you get with sudo apt-get install vim-gtk