Moving the Ctrl Key

I have done this for years, specifically because of using Emacs, and now get frustrated now when on a non-mapped keyboard. :) It works out good for CUA bindings for other applications also.

However, since I am left-handed, the experience might be a little different for me, since I bias towards the left for all modification keys (that includes the Alt key.) The idea of having those keys comfortably near the thumb is interesting though, as some have mentioned, like having a trackpoint so close by when typing (I also remap the top buttons to favor me using my left hand more.)

An alternative approach is to have good shortcuts, Spacemacs being my favourite take on it. The idea is to have shorcuts like ` f e d`. The shortcuts tend to be logically organized in levels (f for files, e for editor, d for dotfile, so this opens your emacs dotfile). No need to remap the keys and no issue with painful key combinations at all.

I'd feel a bit guilty about remapping somebody's Windows keyboard if I was using their machine for some reason, since even if I had my own user account, the key mapping solutions tend to be global. They'd end up mystified about why the caps lock wasn't working, and it would be basically impossible for them to fix.

I thought the reason why Ctrl was on the bottom left was to use your palm to press it.

All my CS1.6 teammates used this. Learned in compsci classes it wasn't as ubiquitous as is first thought.

Personally found that simply using the other hand for modifiers, moving whole hand laterally without bending the wrist and using thumb to hit the modifier, works much better for me, and afaik that (using the opposite hand) was the original design that impacted Emacs modifiers (with mirrored bucky bits on Knight and Space Cadet keyboards).

A bit of problem due to non-mirrored Alt/Meta (I unfortunately need that AltGr) and problem with laptops that often cut important keys on the right hand side, but reasonably good on full keyboard.