What is Esc actually for?

Question

I have always thought of the Esc key as a "stop, get me out" button. The main cases where I would like to use it is for:

Stopping scripts and apps when slowing down computer.
Stopping loading of pages.
Getting out of full-screen.

None of these seem to work though.
This is of concern to me now because I have Windows 8 installed and the new UI often means apps with no clear menu. I know there are probably gestures, mouse actions and keyboard shortcuts to achieve what I want, but isn't the concept of escaping something important?
What is the meaning and importance of Esc?

Answer 1

Escape means whatever the developer of the program wanted it to mean. Microsoft does publish guidelines about keyboard input for developers but if the developer did not decide to follow those guidelines there is no telling what the button will do for a individual program.

One thing you can do is use a program like AutoHotKey to remap the Esc key to perform any action you want. All you need to do is write up a simple script and you can have it execute every time you press Esc.