Don't vi on me and tell me it's raining! Where's pico?

[MarkHaysHarris777]

I'm glad we're getting nano onto these images (are we?).

For me it makes absolutely no sense why dealing with an SBC should feel different when running Ubuntu than when running Debian. That's why we take care that that's not the case, I simply don't have to care that much whether I boot with one or the other. Nano will always be there as will be vim.

I agree with this sentiment also;  but I would expand ( at the risk of being pedantic ) the concept to one of simple expectation-- there are two use cases ( or populations ) who have expectations 1) the modal users and the 2) modeless users.  Both of these expectations needs to be met in a modern unix-like distro.

For this discussion the Single Unix Specification must be highlighted.  Compliant systems 'must' contain vi or the vim derivative ( and if it contains vim it must be able to run in 'compatible' mode ) which means that vi in it's base form must be there;  its not optional. Modeless editors , on the other hand , do not share that same prestige nor history. Regardless, anyone responsible for maintaining a 'system' or build process must keep the intended audience clearly in mind-- like any author !  

If we satisfy the user population use case expectations ( in this case modal and modeless ) then we have met the challenge for consistency AND heterogeneous deployment, in a modern sense.