This is exactly what I use it for. When I'm ssh'd into a server without my vim config, I prefer to use nano simply because I'm so used to my own vim. Using any other vim config is actually difficult, especially since I'm not actually that knowledgable about vim.

Nano takes the cake in this situation. It's everywhere, it's easy.

I understand why nano was designed that way, but it does mean it's unsuitable for Real Work. It works well for light text editing, which, let's face it, is probably the most commonplace activity on a given unix system.