Well, I strongy disagree whit this move.
In fact on of the things that I hate of Debian/Ubuntu is the choice of nano and the poor version that they offer by default of vi.
More friendly for end-users? Really?
Please thinking so, the end-user use GUI's. Nano has no any significative advantage over vi and even lesser over vim. What's the wrong with vim? Really I don't understand.
If one end-user wants to use a text editor, he will find kate, gedit and the like better options. If you don't like a modal editor, propose a better option not a mediocre one. For example, micro is a non-modal editor but more powerful that nano.
If has no real benefit, please could you reconsider it and let the community give his voice?
Thanks in advance.
SB