[otikik]

This is like dropping support for Internet Explorer 6 in a website - code gets cleaner at the expense of a minor group of users getting a worse experience. I think it is a good tradeoff.

[gfodor]

More like IE3. Nobody uses ex mode.

[nXqd]

It's not true. Some still uses it extensively in the case of editing the last commands. But there is alternative way.

I am happy that they will remove this mode in the future :)

[pydave]

q:

That gives you a buffer you can look through previous commands and use normal-mode commands to edit them.

Also, you don't need Ex mode to edit last commands. You can just press Up from cmdline.