Theme 1: Ergonomics of modifier key placement – Many commenters argue that placing the primary modifier (Command/⌘ or Windows key) under the thumb is far more comfortable than using the pinky for Control, especially for frequent shortcuts like copy/paste.
“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.” – spankalee
Theme 2: Ctrl‑C overloaded for copy and abort – The dual use of Control‑C for both copying text and sending a SIGINT (break) is repeatedly called out as confusing and frustrating.
“But then… who decided that ctrl‑c should be used for both copy and abort??? That's diabolical levels of messed up.” – spankalee
Theme 3: Preference for macOS’s consistent Command‑key shortcuts – Users praise macOS for reserving Command (⌘) for GUI actions (Quit, Copy, etc.) while keeping Control for terminal‑like tasks, creating a clean, predictable separation.
“I love that on macOS all in-app shortcuts are consistently Command+Something, like Q for Quit, W to close a window, and Control is usually for system-wide shortcuts…” – Razengan
Theme 4: Switching costs and muscle‑memory friction – Moving between macOS, Windows, and Linux often forces users to remap keys (via Karabiner, SharpKeys, etc.) to avoid constant relearning and painful habit clashes.
“I have such muscle memory attached to, say, slamming my pinky across L‑Ctrl+L‑Shift+left arrow … Doing this on Mac keyboards is Shift + Option + Left Arrow and… it's hell.” – disillusioned