This is exactly my experience of trying to use OS X, thanks for putting it into words! The Home and End thing is by far the most annoying one (for me, but only because it's always the first one I run into whenever I find myself having to use a Mac).
It's so ridiculous that there's this mentality (everywhere) that "power users" are bad people whose needs always contradict those good, "average" users. That mythical "average" users are more noble a target audience than "power" users and so software should be made to ignore the needs of "power" users, because that's what's required to satisfy the needs of "average" users. It's nonsense and doesn't help anybody.
Has it occurred to you that being a "power user" on one platform doesn't necessarily translate to another or that another platform may be signifantly different to what you are used to? This isn't a case of OS X being different for the sake of being esoteric or being aimed at the 'average' user; rather these shortcuts have existed in Mac OS since at least the early 1980's.
It's so ridiculous that there's this mentality (everywhere) that "power users" are bad people whose needs always contradict those good, "average" users. That mythical "average" users are more noble a target audience than "power" users and so software should be made to ignore the needs of "power" users, because that's what's required to satisfy the needs of "average" users. It's nonsense and doesn't help anybody.