I've become really happy with my various ways of switching between things. Part of the reason why is that there are so many ways to do it, because I don't put everything in Emacs.

I use a Mac, running various web browsers, Mac apps, Vim, Emacs, and connecting to Windows over Remote Desktop.

I use:

* Cmd-Tab to switch between Mac apps. Even works if I'm fullscreen in Windows: Cmd-Tab and I'm back to my Mac browser. * Cmd-~ to switch between Mac windows. Scoped to the current app, which helps when I have lots open. * Cmd-Shift-[ and ] to switch between Terminal tabs. No worries about the shell catching those keys. * Option-Tab to switch between windows within Windows. * gt/gT and the Ctrl-W keys to manage tabs and windows in Vim. * etc.

Notice how I have various levels of switching? I don't have all of my tasks on the same flat plane, so I can switch between groups easily. Vim and Emacs end up as task-specific interfaces; I don't have to worry about getting my IRC client out of the way when I want to edit a few files, and the shortcuts to get to my browser is disjoint with the ones I use in my editor.

Somehow all of these are internalized, so the complexity doesn't really affect me. I just notice how easy it is to get to what I want across multiple OSes and apps.