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I don't find it that similar. Windows key is rarely (never?) used as a modifier at the application level. You'd never see it as a keyboard shortcut in menus likes you do with command.

Windows key shortcuts are all (I think) operating system shortcuts. Super+R, Super+X, Super+right arrow.

Command is more analogous to alt or control.




I have to agree with you (and Jobs) here. The Windows key is related to Windows functions. I think using the Windows logo I this instance is particularly apt. As you pointed out, the Command key is really a very generic key and has no particular affinity to Apple or the OS itself.

I haven’t used Windows 11 yet, but the Windows key has become much more associated with premier Windows features beyond initially the start menu. Windows+G opens the integrated gaming experience (if you’ve enabled it, I believe) and even Windows+tab gives you a similar, but more modern experience over alt+tab. Windows+v gives you an expanded clipboard view and I think this may be where the line begins to blur a bit, but it’s still the improved Windows version of the paste command that is essentially the same across most OSes.

It has its utilitarian uses such as window management with Windows+arrow key, but that of course is an OS level action.


> Windows key is rarely (never?) used as a modifier at the application level. You'd never see it as a keyboard shortcut in menus likes you do with command.

Yeah that's because the Windows key was only introduced with Windows 95, which means a) ctrl- and alt- shortcuts were already convention; and b) most keyboards didn't even have a Windows key! If you were writing an application at the time, it would have been a gamble whether end users could even access your shortcuts. So of course devs stayed with ctrl and alt.


PowerToys adds a bunch of new shortcuts using the Windows key, and ConEmu uses it for several shortcuts as well.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/

https://conemu.github.io/en/KeyboardShortcuts.html


Yeah, most typically (but not always) with cross platform stuff:

- windows/linux win/super key = apple ctrl key, OS level commands

- windows/linux ctrl = apple cmd key, primary application level commands

- windows/linux alt = apple option, secondary application level commands

- shift modifiers are almost always interoperational




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