I felt the same way about vim. I never had the patience to get started and configure everything to get the full benefits.

I just switched over to Omarchy for my personal OS and I know that it comes with a pre-configured neovim (using lazyvim) setup that looks like a fully-fledged IDE.

I personally have been using Helix as my editor at home and work. The fact that everything generally works on download is what got me using it.

It's coincidental that this article has reached the front page today. I just picked up The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation by Jon Gartner. (I'll let you know how it is when I finish)

One thing to consider is that Bell Labs didn't innovate for altruistic reasons like furthering the human race or scientific understanding. They innovated to further AT&T's monopoly and to increase shareholder value. This doesn't seem that different than what Meta, Google, NVIDIA, etc. are doing. Maybe in 10-20-30 years we will view the research that modern tech companies are doing through the same lens.

Although, I do admit that the freedom with which these scientists and engineers were able to conduct research is something special. Maybe that's the real difference here.