It's exactly as you say: if anything, the obstacle with vi for new users is that its display fails to be modal. An interesting consideration though: experience

It's exactly as you say: if anything, the obstacle with vi for new users is that its display fails to be modal. An interesting consideration though: experienced users know to develop unstacking habits. They wouldn't need the visual indicator even if it were there. Getting out of insert mode is akin to tidying up your ropes after a tack.