A: for use within vim (where "i" has another meaning already), or
B: for people who have a long history using vim and are already used to the hjkl paradigm, or
C: (most often) both.
I'm really not sure why you would get tired of this "obsession." No one is telling you to use hjkl unless you're using vim.
It's annoying when you spot this kind of thing about 6 times a year. FWIW today I also spotted a story about how you shouldn't be using hjkl.
Upsides: - ijkl is easier for users learning vim. - don't have to shift your fingers over to h key
Downsides - rebind insert to h (not really a big deal) - middle finger is now responsible for up and down (I honestly don't see this having much effect on efficiency)
I'm tempted to try this, but I hate the feeling of not being familiar with a vanilla config. What if I have to use somebody else's machine?
I'm having trouble getting off the arrow keys myself - because they work regardless of whether you're in insert mode or not...
I mentioned that at the end of my post.