Here’s one that is truly mild — at least to most people. One, since most people aren’t Mac users. And two, since most Windows users probably don’t know about this Windows feature. But, onward.

One thing I like about the Mac is how it handles symbols. I’m a Mac user of about 2-3 years now, but I’ve been using Windows for over 30 years. On a Windows machine, I know if I hold ALT and strike 0151 on the number pad, it makes an em dash (—). But, on a Mac, just like on an iPhone or Android phone, you can get a lot of symbols just by holding a letter or number (on Windows, it just spams the letter or number). Making an em dash is a little different though, you hold Shift and Option and tap Dash/Hyphen.

I’m not sure if it’s because ChatGPT/other LLMs (AIs) have made use of the em dash or if people are talking about it more, but either way, it’s starting to make a comeback. (I’ve been using it all along — you can blame me for AIs using it.)

Anyway, Microsoft decided to copy the Mac shortcut using the exact same muscle memory shortcut. Shift is Shift on both keyboards, but where Option is on my Mac keyboard, is where the Windows key is on a Windows keyboard. I heard they were doing this, but I didn’t believe it until it happened. In Office programs (such as Outlook), if you hold Shift and Windows (key) and hit Hyphen/Dash, it makes an em dash. But, it only does it in Office. It works in Word, but not in Notepad. And I do use Word at work, and Excel, but I also use Notepad and StickyNotes.

So, it’s mildly infuriating that the shortcut I learned on my Macs works on Windows now — but only in some applications. Knowing which ones doesn’t help.

That said, if Microsoft could get away with copying how Apple/macOS handles symbols, it would just be good for everyone. Like how do you make the º symbol? I used to know the alt code? 0186? Something like that. IIRC it’s a hook or arc shape. On Mac it’s just Option+0. Option+3 makes £ (it would be Shift+3 on an en_GB keyboard, or painted above the 3 on a keyboard sold in the UK) and Option+4 makes ¢. It’s worth opening a text file and seeing what makes what and making note of what you might use. Or not, you could say degrees, pounds/GBP, or cents, and everyone knows what you mean. I just think it’s nice to know how to make the proper symbols.