Why does this have to be so complicated? My .Xmodmap, on my MacBook Pro, to remap caps lock and the right command keys to Mode_switch, which allows me to use the last two columns below, to get all French + German + Polish letters/accents, and some more (eg: for 1, I have 1, ! (with shift), ¹ (with right-command or caps-lock), ¡ (with right-command+shift)):
keycode 66 = Mode_switch Multi_key
keycode 134 = Mode_switch Multi_key
keycode 10 = 1 exclam onesuperior exclamdown
keycode 11 = 2 at twosuperior onehalf
keycode 12 = 3 numbersign threesuperior onethird
keycode 13 = 4 dollar EuroSign cent
keycode 14 = 5 percent sterling yen
keycode 15 = 6 asciicircum dead_acute dead_circumflex
keycode 19 = 0 parenright degree masculine
keycode 20 = minus underscore copyright registered
keycode 21 = equal plus plusminus notsign

keycode 24 = q Q eacute Eacute
keycode 25 = w W egrave Egrave
keycode 26 = e E eogonek Eogonek
keycode 27 = r R ecircumflex Ecircumflex
keycode 28 = t T ediaeresis Ediaeresis
keycode 29 = y Y ugrave Ugrave
keycode 30 = u U udiaeresis Udiaeresis
keycode 31 = i I idiaeresis Idiaeresis
keycode 32 = o O oacute Oacute
keycode 33 = p P ocircumflex Ocircumflex
keycode 34 = bracketleft braceleft odiaeresis Odiaeresis

keycode 38 = a A aogonek Aogonek
keycode 39 = s S sacute Sacute
keycode 40 = d D adiaeresis Adiaeresis
keycode 41 = f F agrave Agrave
keycode 42 = g G acircumflex Acircumflex
keycode 43 = h H ucircumflex Ucircumflex
keycode 44 = j J icircumflex Icircumflex
keycode 45 = k K ocircumflex Ocircumflex
keycode 46 = l L lstroke Lstroke

keycode 52 = z Z zabovedot Zabovedot
keycode 53 = x X zacute Zacute
keycode 54 = c C cacute Cacute
keycode 55 = v V ccedilla Ccedilla
keycode 56 = b B ssharp
keycode 57 = n N nacute Nacute
keycode 58 = m M ntilde Ntilde

The main difference is that you have to FIND the tool, and trust its developer, and pray that for every new version/patch of windows, the tool will still work.

xmodmap is native in X11. Has been for over 10 years (didn't look, most likely 20).

That was what I found complicated. The rest, I agree, a configuration file or the registry is equally arcane.

As for the troll part of it, you cannot compare my Mac to your Windows. I do not run OS-X, I run Ubuntu I simply noted the fact that it was a MBP because its keyboard is pretty minimalistic (as most apple products). But I guess it wasn't the right blog to post such a comment, sorry