If you are calculating an index the domain and range of the index function are very often 0-based. So you have to subtract and add one to convert from and to 1-based. It's just messy.
That makes no sense. Neither 1-based indexing or 0-based indexing will save you from OB1 errors.
As a matter of fact, if you make more OB1 errors in a 0-based indexing language, it's probably because your brain is wired to think 1-based.
The problem: there are legions of programmers whose brain is wired to think 0-based and are guaranteed to suffer through a lot more OB1 errors if they try to adopt Julia.
0 based indexing is not because of C's influence. It's because that's how computers work. ASM is 0-based indexing. The first memory cell on a computer doesn't start at address 1.
It's also not hard to get used to. No more OB1 errors.