I used vim for about 9 or 10 years before I switched to emacs. From my perspective people use vim because they haven't tried emacs yet (I kid!).
I still have the muscle memory for vi and that's what these sorts of editors rely on to be effective with them. Once you get enough practice the editor practically disappears and it becomes more about the text on the screen... almost like you are manipulating it directly with your mind.
Augh the muscle memory! I used vim for five years in and out of college and then switched to emacs for the cool things you can do with SQLi-mode and shell-mode. Once in a great while I have to edit something on a machine I can't TRAMP to and I use vim, and then my fingers are completely shot for about an hour because they keep trying to type esc :wq instead of C-x C-s.
I still have the muscle memory for vi and that's what these sorts of editors rely on to be effective with them. Once you get enough practice the editor practically disappears and it becomes more about the text on the screen... almost like you are manipulating it directly with your mind.
Fun article. :)