I agree that a visual editor will stick with WordPress. It needs to. I fully expect modern web systems like WordPress to have visual editors, as I am an avid user of keyboard shortcuts and the other features a visual editor has to offer. And, my staff members on numerous sites have come to like and depend on having a visual editor. For us, the features of a visual editor greatly speed up workflow and output. Manual coding? No thanks. I've hand-coded stuff since 1996 and I'm sick and tired of it.

If WP were to drop the visual editor, I would drop WP--simple as that. I can appreciate others might want an alternative such as Markdown, but I would not use it, nor would I like it enabled by default. It is nice to have it as an option, however, for those on my staff who might like to use it. I like offering my users a choice; it just doesn't have to be MY choice, nor do I want it forced on me.

As a visual editor, though, I will say this: TinyMCE has long been problematic and buggy, and in my experience in dealing with its issues, its developers are far from helpful or receptive to input. Another system growing in popularity is Redactor, which so far has proven to be more reliable in everyday use than TinyMCE. Yet due to its licensing, it could likely not be included in WordPress.