Vim does not do this by default, you have to enable it explicitly. And then, when others edit the code -- the use some wrong mixture of tabs and spaces. What

Vim does not do this by default, you have to enable it explicitly. And then, when others edit the code -- the use some wrong mixture of tabs and spaces. What I said is that it won't work in practice in a multi-editor environment. If everyone has a uniformly configured vim, it may work -- but no work environment I've seen ever had that. EDIT: Can you name a single example project source I can look at that correctly uses tabs for indentation only? I've never seen it work, it always deteriorates into a mess in my experience. Also, do you ever work with people who use Eclipse, Visual Studio, Notepad++, and various non-vim editors?