As for little/no benefits, that is certainly not true. Angular 2 is going to be better in almost every way from Angular 1 and there are many great apps built off Angular 1. If you haven't tried Angular 2, I suggest giving it a go once the they get to beta.
At a first glance the link you provided promotes double insanity: angular 1 mixed with angular 2 (because angular 1 was not complex enough when angular 2 decided to simplify it with new syntax and requiring typescript which seems to require node.js). Is there some documentation for angular 2 with plain javascript (no typescript) for people who want to keep it simpler ? Can you provide some links ? Thank you.
if you consider a "node.js" requirement (read: a build step) too complex for your projects, you're probably correct in that you don't need any version of angular, react, ember, or anything else.
http://angularjs.blogspot.com/2015/08/angular-1-and-angular-...
As for little/no benefits, that is certainly not true. Angular 2 is going to be better in almost every way from Angular 1 and there are many great apps built off Angular 1. If you haven't tried Angular 2, I suggest giving it a go once the they get to beta.