So it would seem that easy access, speed, and ergonomics are important for the shift and option keys, and that easy access and ergonomics likewise are important for the command key. For example, a “ç” is simply ⌥C a vowel with an acute accent ( e.g., “é”) is formed with ⌥E as a dead key chord preceding the vowel you want to put the accent over. While typing text, shift is obviously crucial but so too is option, as all common European characters can be easily obtained via combinations of option and letter keys (on the US QWERTY keyboard). Personally, I use control a lot as well (for Keyboard Maestro macros), but that’s far less common. This means that Mac users who prefer keyboarding to mousing (and my guess is that the vast majority of Mac users interested in the Model 01 will fall into this camp) need fairly easily to be able to chord at least ⇧⌘, ⌥⌘, and (somewhat less often) ⌥⇧⌘. More recently, some apps will now add control ˆ to the mix - but those are comparatively rare. Traditionally, the additional modifiers used with the command key would only be the shift key ⇧, the option key ⌥, or a combination of the two.

Lots of other commands are more-or-less standard, with the better apps making a good effort to place less-common variations on the same keys with more modifiers ( ⇧⌘V to paste with matching the surrounding style, for example). Every Mac user, from developers to data-entry clerks will at a minimum use ⌘C (copy), ⌘V (paste), ⌘X (cut), ⌘Z (undo), ⌘F (find), ⌘S (save), ⌘P (print) - all of which have been baked in to the operating system since 1984.

The command key ⌘ is consistently used in at least 95% of applications and in the operating system for “command-key equivalents” (i.e., menu shortcuts). I can’t speak much to Windows/Linux correspondences with the Mac, but I can tell you about the Mac in isolation (I left DOS for Mac OS in 1985).

Spacebar on inkscape mac