Line / prompt input is not the same as text editing. View it from a average user / UX perspective. Having Ed as the default editor is just as surprising as Vim.

Line / prompt input is not the same as text editing. View it from a average user / UX perspective. Having Ed as the default editor is just as surprising as Vim. Power users and Linux geeks might prefer Vim, rightfully, but neither Vim nor Ed are good defaults. Both mandate having them used before as a prerequesite. You want something that as many people as possible can use out of the box as the default.