Offset arrays aren't a kludge and the package would exist regardless of whether zero or one has been chosen as a default base for indexing. Having arbitrary index ranges in different dimensions is extremely useful in many application domains. When working with FFTs, for example, it's natural for the indices to be symmetrical around zero. Or when doing coordinate transforms like in this example from the excellent Images.jl package: https://juliaimages.org/stable/tutorials/indexing/.