I guess you know this, but just for some context: ctrl-a is the default prefix for GNU Screen which was the unopposed leader in terminal management for a long t

I guess you know this, but just for some context: ctrl-a is the default prefix for GNU Screen which was the unopposed leader in terminal management for a long time, so most people are just used to it. As for the ctrl-a shortcut, I admit I use screen/tmux for mail, jabber and text editing/programming mostly, so I do not spend that much time in the shell where that shortcut would be handy. I just didn't use that shortcut until now.