ragnemalm

The CP is then more or less useless for free and open source software---the freedom to modify and redistribute the software is worthless if any feature you choose to add, remove or modify makes you fair game for a patent lawsuit. The users have no real control over this sort of software, because they can't legally distribute modifications which violate the letter of the specifications.

It sounds like C# and the CLI is still best avoided for open source software.

I can see that this might work with some keyboards, but I think the Apple one is too low-profile.

Also, if you're not using C-M-... shortcuts, you're missing out:

C-M-{s,r} isearch-{forward/backward}-regexp (indispensable)

C-M-% query-replace-regexp (indispensable)

C-M-\ indent-region (indispensable for when M-q would mess up your line breaks)

C-M-x eval-defun (for running changes to your .emacs without restarting)

C-M-q indent-pp-sexp (pretty-print and reindent sexp at point)

C-M-{f,b,u,d,a,e,k,t} forward/back/up/down/beginning/end/kill/transpose sexps

C-M-{n,p} {forward/backward}-list

C-M-v scroll-other-window

And so on. C-h k (describe-key) is your friend.

Sounds like the best thing to do for a mac (although it wouldn't fix the problem in tty mode). On other operating systems, it's nice to make the change globally, since all other programs seem to use control pretty regularly too.

Definitely not as easy with Emacs. You have to carry a .emacs around on a thumbdrive and drop it where you need.

Many are a fan of using the Caps Lock key as Control. While better than the insane standard positioning, it's still not optimal: it's not symmetrical between your hands (you're not going to remap Return as another Control) and it still makes for a lot of awkward pinky use. (Imagine playing a piano piece all with your 3rd, 4th and 5th fingers.)

The optimal solution I've come up with is to use the two keys adjacent to the space bar (typically Alt, but actually Command on the Apple keyboard I generally use) as Control, since that's easily the most important modifier key, so it should be the easiest to access. This makes C-w, C-s, C-r, C-a, C-e, C-p, C-o, C-j, C-l and so on very, very comfortable compared to the corner positioning. As far as I know, this is the way many keyboards were before the extended IBM PC keyboard came up with its insane control key positioning. (My comfort with these keys may also be linked to my use of Macs and ubiquitous command-key shortcuts before I switched to Ubuntu. Ironically, Emacs is much more comfortable now in Ubuntu than it ever was on my Mac, because I can use the most readily accessible modifier key as God intended, rather than the third-tier relegated modifier that Control is on the Mac.)

The two keys adjacent to the new Control keys (ie. 2 away from the spacebar) then become the Alt keys. Whatever is left over (the original ctrl keys, plus Caps Lock and any silly Windows keys left over) can be bound to Super, which is useful for window manager shortcuts so that they don't clobber emacs/bash/screen bindings.

These changes are trivially easy to put in a simple .Xmodmap file to load whenever you log in, and copy to all the other computers you have to use regularly. If you're using Windows, I guess you may have to fiddle with the registry, but it would be worth it.