I vote against backticks, since I think we can learn to live with some diversity. Running with the crowd, the latest fashion, would, in the end, leave us with something like Word and Windows, that is, something which is seductively easy to use the first two days, but a pain in the neck the rest of your life.
Unfortunately, I have seen these tendencies in Linux, in Emacs -- yes, live-move-visual is now default, which makes Emacs less consistent, but more like Word -- and even in my favourite window manager. Please evaluate the design of Org Mode (and other things) without putting a value on how similar it is to other things. A bicycle would appear more familiar to a car driver if we replaced the handlebar with a steering wheel, but it wouldn't make the bike any better. If someones fingers cannot adjust, let him/her customise a bit. Just my two cents. Rasmus