Being about 4 hours into my IMC I am in favour of this. But have to agree with other posters. The skills you learn not only allow you to fly in IMC, but they improve your overall flying skills, and general ability.
IMHO flying is a road where we are constatantly learning, the IMC is good way of increasing your flying skills without the cost of the full IR.
Happy Flying ( Chance would be a fine thing given the recent weather)
WAL