History. Command is the Ctrl key of Mac, and IBM/Microsoft switched it up when they copied it. The command key is placed in the right position to be used quickly, the control key (on most laptop keyboards) is placed way off to the left or right to be very useful.
The first thing I do on a new Windows laptop is swap the left alt and ctrl keys to match the way it was meant to be. From wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_key):
> The purpose of the Command key is to allow the user to enter keyboard commands in applications and in the system. The Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines have always recommended that developers use the Command key (and not the Control or Option keys) for this purpose. A small set of keyboard commands (such as cut and paste, open and save) are standard across nearly all applications, and many other commands are standardized (Find, Show Fonts). If an application needs more shortcuts than can be obtained with the twenty-six letters of the Latin alphabet, double modifiers such as Command+Option are used.
> One advantage of this scheme, as contrasted with the Microsoft Windows mixed use of the Control and Alt keys, is that the Control key is available for its original purpose: entering control characters in terminal applications. (Indeed, the very first Macintosh lacked a Control key; it was soon added to allow compatible terminal software.)
> The first thing I do on a new Windows laptop is swap the left alt and ctrl keys to match the way it was meant to be
This is frustrating. I grew up on Windows machines and remember having frequent discomfort from overstretching my pinky to reach the left control key. When I first began using Macs a few years ago the first thing I remembered was thinking "Wow using the command key is so effortless!". Now I've had years of typing with zero discomfort.
I just bough a Surface Book and was dreading using a Windows keyboard again. So I searched around a bit and most recommended swapping control with alt to match the Mac keyboard like you said.
1. Why do I have to use third party software to swap alt and control in Windows?
2. I know there's some historical reason why control is the primary modifier... but here we have Microsoft developing ergonomic keyboards for 20 years and no one thought, "gee wouldn't it be more ergonomic to put the control key where the alt key is?". If that's too extreme, at least provide a simple software setting to change it!
We have companies spending $500-$1500+ on ergonomic chairs. I wonder what percentage of those using Windows machines have used third party software to swap control with alt (or caps lock). I bet less than 1% - because it's not simple for the average user. I don't know if frequent overextending of fingers leads to any serious problems or simply discomfort like I had, but it seems like such a simple thing to fix. Start releasing keyboards with control and alt swapped and provide a simple checkbox in Windows 10 to revert it for people who want the old behavior. I'm not an Apple fanboy, but hey they were brave enough to reverse the scroll direction on the touchpad and deploy that to every single OS X user AND they provide a simple way to revert the default via settings. /rant
Regarding ergonomics: keyboards are intended to be used with two hands, so if you're trying to type Ctrl + C then your left hand presses C while your right hand presses the right control key. That way you don't fatigue your hands and makes Cmd vs Ctrl something of a moot point.
Of course with the right hand on the mouse, the left hand is often used to perform both key presses. If this causes you pain, gaming mice offer programmable buttons which you could configure to give you Cmd/shift/Ctrl or other common modifier keys (or just copy/paste macros). I've seen this done to great effect.
Tell that to Microsoft. They omitted the right control key on the Surface Book. But even if they had kept it, I don't really agree that it would help much at all. Either way I'm overextending my pinky - whether it's left pinky or right pinky does not matter. Using the alt key (or to a lesser extent the caps lock key) is much better.
I'll have to disagree with you on using the mouse also. Taking my hand off the keyboard to use the mouse every time I want to Control-C, Control-V or use any other shortcuts is not really an acceptable solution.
Why are we so afraid of simply using the alt key ___location? :) Are there any Mac users who reassign command key to the "fn" ___location on their keyboards, caps lock, or their mouse? I think it's unheard of... because the command key ___location on a mac keyboard is a non-issue. The only time Mac users reassign the command key input is when they are using a Windows keyboard (to make it mimic the mac's keyboard).
Good points, and the OS X command key is easier on my hands for regular GUI tasks. You should try mapping the caps key to ctrl. It makes a lot more sense and is almost as easy to use as the command key on Mac keyboards. See http://capsoff.org/history for reference.
The first thing I do on a new Windows laptop is swap the left alt and ctrl keys to match the way it was meant to be. From wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_key):
> The purpose of the Command key is to allow the user to enter keyboard commands in applications and in the system. The Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines have always recommended that developers use the Command key (and not the Control or Option keys) for this purpose. A small set of keyboard commands (such as cut and paste, open and save) are standard across nearly all applications, and many other commands are standardized (Find, Show Fonts). If an application needs more shortcuts than can be obtained with the twenty-six letters of the Latin alphabet, double modifiers such as Command+Option are used.
> One advantage of this scheme, as contrasted with the Microsoft Windows mixed use of the Control and Alt keys, is that the Control key is available for its original purpose: entering control characters in terminal applications. (Indeed, the very first Macintosh lacked a Control key; it was soon added to allow compatible terminal software.)