A note in support of the idea that 8.0 seems like a reasonable time for this kind of change. Vim's maximum utility and friendliness really only come after some configuration work, and I don't expect that to change any time soon, but nudging it towards more modern out-of-the-box behavior for new users seems like a fine idea at this point in 2016.
As a data point re: hlsearch, it's something that I find useful in small doses, and thus have a mapping to toggle. I don't feel super strongly that it should be off by default, but I'd probably turn it off in my own .vimrc if it were on by default. -- bpb -- -- You received this message from the "vim_use" maillist. Do not top-post! Type your reply below the text you are replying to. For more information, visit http://www.vim.org/maillist.php --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "vim_use" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to vim_use+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.