Is vi difficult to learn? I learned the basics immediately and was able to modify and save files and quit the editor (with or without saving) in pretty short order. I don't think it's difficult to learn, you just learn how to use it in a different way, and if you spend a lot of time editing plain text files, that makes a lot of sense. That's the author's point, I think: vi isn't less friendly just because it's written for a different class of people and used in a different way.