[whatshisface]

The idea would be to optimize the keyboard around English (which you can't remap,) and then to optimize your editor keybindings around the keyboard (which are easy to remap.)

[tjoff]

Many applications (vast majority?) don't support remapping keybindings and it is a ton of work.

Optimizing your layout for English is not necessarily ideal for anyone writing in more than one language.

edit: I guess the above can be manageable (with compromises), but in my opinion it does take away much of the appeal with a new layout.