Keyboard differences between Windows and Macs

(unsung.aresluna.org)

13 points | by sohkamyung 41 minutes ago

7 comments

  • IgorPartola 8 minutes ago
    Mac got the Command key right. Windows got the Home and End keys right. Wish we could have both on one system.
  • spankalee 13 minutes ago
    I recently got a Linux desktop after being Mac-only for a long time and using Linux only as a deploy target, and holy shit: the modifier key situation on PCs is so bad.

    Control specifically is just a terrible modifier key for common things like edit commands. First, it sits near your pinky instead of your thumb, making chording it with Z, X, C, V, etc., really difficult.

    But then... who decided that ctrl-c should be used for both copy and abort??? That's diabolical levels of messed up. In a terminal app ctrl-c aborts, so you need to use shift-ctrl-c to copy, and now you have two shortcuts for the same operation you need to remember based on context, except that in a web-based terminal in Chrome shift-ctrl-c opens "Inspect Element Mode" and now you have no way to copy!

    Am I the only one who finds this astoundingly frustrating?

    • nightfly 7 minutes ago
      Caps Lock remapped to control. By using a keyboard where I can remap keys at the firmware level whenever possible, and in the OS when not

      Ctrl-C doing different things come from different os/software lineages

  • olyjohn 28 minutes ago
    The demo keyboards in the article, I'm pretty sure are wrong.

    The "Start" or Windows key is the same as the "Command" key

    "Alt" is the same key as "Option"

    This is how every keyboard I've ever used has worked. This is usually how they work when you plug a PC keyboard into a Mac or vice-versa.

    • rahimnathwani 7 minutes ago
      That's how it is by default but doesn't approximately everyone, when they first plug a non-Mac external keyboard into their Mac, immediately go to System Settings -> Keyboard -> Modifier keys and switch Command with Option?

      Otherwise it would be really confusing when you switch from your external keyboard to the laptop keyboard.

  • ankurdhama 35 minutes ago
    mac treats modifier keys like modifier keys whereas windows treat super key as modifier key and start menu key (which is weird)
  • mulanroo 7 minutes ago
    [dead]
  • soltanov 15 minutes ago
    [flagged]