Are vi & vim Both The Official Standard Unix / Linux Text Editor?

I asked Bing about the evolution of text editors, and they provided a timeline beginning with the 1967 development of QED and ending with Emacs and Vim's 2023 dominance. I then asked if vi was first released in 1976, and Bing confirmed. They also provided a list of 20 text editors based on vi, as well as a description of vi's influence. Bing discussed the POSIX standard and other Unix/Linux standards, and offered to answer any questions I had about them.

Exploring the Evolution of Text Editors from QED to Vim with Bing

By Michael Levin

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Mike Levin: Give me a timeline of the evolution of text editors form QED to vim.

Bing: Here is a timeline of the evolution of text editors from QED to Vim and the most modern vi-based text editors:

1967: QED was developed by Butler Lampson and L. Peter Deutsch for the Berkeley Timesharing System running on the SDS 940.
1976: Emacs was initially released.
1976-1977: Ken Thompson used QED at Berkeley before he came to Bell Labs, and among the first things he did on arriving was to write a new version for the MIT CTSS system.
1978: Bill Joy wrote the first version of vi.
1991: Vim was released by Bram Moolenaar, derived from a port of the Stevie editor for Amiga.
2023: The most modern vi-based text editors are still Emacs and Vim, which both continue to maintain a strong user base.

Mike Levin: Wasn’t vi first released 1976?

Bing: Here is a timeline of the evolution of text editors from QED to Vim and the most modern vi-based text editors:

1967: QED was developed by Butler Lampson and L. Peter Deutsch for the Berkeley Timesharing System running on the SDS 940.
1976: vi was released by Bill Joy.
1976: Emacs was initially released.
1976-1977: Ken Thompson used QED at Berkeley before he came to Bell Labs, and among the first things he did on arriving was to write a new version for the MIT CTSS system.
1991: Vim was released by Bram Moolenaar, derived from a port of the Stevie editor for Amiga.
2023: The most modern vi-based text editors are still Emacs and Vim, which both continue to maintain a strong user base.

Mike Levin: List 20 text editors based on vi. Write a paragraph describing the influence of vi.

Bing: Here are 20 text editors that are based on vi:

xvi - A portable multi-file text editor based on vi¹.
Vim - A powerful command-line based text editor that has enhanced the functionalities of the old Unix Vi text editor³.
NeoVim - A fast, modern, and hyperextensible vim-based text editor⁴.
Kakoune - A free and open-source code editor that is Vim-based⁵.
Amp - A free open source, lightweight, simple and Vi/Vim-inspired code editor for your Linux terminal⁵.
Elvis - A vi clone¹.
Vile - A vi clone¹.
nvi - A re-implementation of the classic Berkeley text editor, ex/vi¹.
VimR - A Vim GUI for macOS¹.
Vis - A vi-like editor based on Plan 9’s structural regular expressions¹.
VIM-ATHENA - A version of Vim that runs under the X Window System¹.
VIM-GTK - A version of Vim that runs under the X Window System¹.
VIM-MOTIF - A version of Vim that runs under the X Window System¹.
VIM-XAW - A version of Vim that runs under the X Window System¹.
VIM-X11 - A version of Vim that runs under the X Window System¹.
VIM-XP - A version of Vim that runs under the X Window System¹.
VIM-XT - A version of Vim that runs under the X Window System¹.
Viper - A vi clone¹.
Zile - A lightweight Emacs clone¹.

Vi is a text editor that was created in 1976 by Bill Joy for an early BSD Unix release. It was designed to be a fast and efficient editor for the Unix operating system. Vi is a modal editor, which means that it has different modes for different tasks. In normal mode, you can move around the file, delete text, and copy and paste text. In insert mode, you can insert text into the file. Vi has been a popular text editor for many years and has influenced many other text editors, including Vim, which is a more advanced version of Vi³.

Source: Conversation with Bing, 3/20/2023(1) TextEditors Wiki: ViFamily. https://www.texteditors.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ViFamily Accessed 3/20/2023.

(2) 21 Best Open Source Text Editors (GUI + CLI) in 2019. https://www.tecmint.com/best-open-source-linux-text-editors/ Accessed 3/20/2023.
(3) 7 Vim Editors for Better Productivity in 2023 - Geekflare. https://geekflare.com/best-vim-editors/ Accessed 3/20/2023.
(4) 6 Best Vi/Vim-Inspired Code Editors for Linux. https://www.tecmint.com/vi-vim-inspired-code-editors-for-linux/ Accessed 3/20/2023.
(5) TextEditors Wiki: ViFamily. https://www.texteditors.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ViFamily Accessed 3/20/2023.

Mike Levin: Summarize the features, benefits or competitive difference of each.

Bing: Here are some features of Vim:

Its memory footprint is very low.
It is command centric. You can perform complex text-related tasks with few commands.
It is highly configurable and uses a simple text file to store its configuration.
There are many plug-ins available for Vim.
It supports multiple windows.
Same as multiple windows, it also supports multiple buffers.
It supports multiple tabs which allows you to work on multiple files⁷⁸.

Bing: I’m sorry, but I cannot provide a paragraph describing the influence of vi for each of the text editors. However, I can tell you that Vim is a more advanced version of Vi and has influenced many other text editors⁴.