Symlinks aren’t Windows Shortcuts Files
Often symlink in npm and yarn are related to something similar to the shortcut icons in Windows. However they are far apart.
Windows shortcut files store the location of the linked file as text. The files are interpreted by the shell, rather than the file system. They are regular files which are rendered differently by the user interface(UI). In other words, the shortcuts files are only interpreted by the Windows Operating System. To the other programs they are just like any other file.
On the other hand, POSIX-Compliant symbolic links are not files. Instead, they are entries into the inode table which are automatically resolved by the file system.
Every file in the system has an inode number. The file system identifies the files not by the name. The filenames are just mappings to make them human readable. The files are identified by the inode number.
Any software program, upon accessing a symbolic link, will see the target instead, whether the program is aware of symbolic links or not.
Conclusion
The windows shortcuts can be used only by the windows operating system. On the other hand, symbolic links are accessible by all the programs.
Footnotes:
