>I can't think of any benefit
If you want to minimize the time it takes to travel to a particular key, it makes sense to keep your fingers at the "center of mass" of the keyboard... which is the home row.
If you want to minimize the time it takes to travel to a particular key, it makes sense to keep your fingers at the "center of mass" of the keyboard... which is the home row.
Space and Caps-lock are enough to orient me on any keyboard I've used for more than a minute or two. Space and Enter orient on the right hand.
Basically - if my left pinky is touching the line between caps lock and shift on the left side of those keys, and my thumb is touching the bottom of the space bar, I know exactly where my middle fingers are resting.
With the added bonus of not contorting my wrist and fingers into a very uncomfortable space.
I have very large hands, and the "Proper" finger placement would be a guaranteed RSI injury for me.
Different keyboards with macros or weirdly formatted buttons throw me for a loop with this method though, while the f and j keys guarantee correct positioning.