You're right about ease of use, and CI being easier than the other PHP frameworks. I don't think it gets any easier. I coded PHP procedurally for about 3 years before using any frameworks, and when I finally started using frameworks, the appeal was that they gave me a bunch of "shortcuts". Even still, this is how I view CI. I don't need a framework that doesn't make me feel like it's making my job easier, and that's why I keep coming back to CI. I've been using CI since version 1.7.2 (2009).
