In the Beginning...was the Command Line

151 pages

English language

Published Feb. 27, 1999

ISBN:
978-0-380-81593-7
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Goodreads:
18937

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4 stars (53 reviews)

In the Beginning... Was the Command Line is an essay by Neal Stephenson which was originally published online in 1999 and later made available in book form (November 1999, ISBN 978-0380815937). The essay is a commentary on why the proprietary operating systems business is unlikely to remain profitable in the future because of competition from free software. It also analyzes the corporate/collective culture of the Microsoft, Apple, and free software communities.

2 editions

Review of 'In the Beginning...was the Command Line' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

The essay, meant to be a look at the state of the art, has become an interesting snapshot of computing at the turn of the millennium. I was expecting a more balanced and timeless argument for command lines over more abstract user interfaces and was disappointed to find a simplistic and (at least by now,) tired "more control vs less hassle" argument.

Review of 'In the Beginning...was the Command Line' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

I'm not a huge fan of Stephenson's fiction, but I enjoy his explanations of complex technical ideas that he sprinkles liberally through his novels. He is able to disassemble the most intimidating subjects -- cryptography, nanotechnology, amongst others -- and reassemble them bit by bit before your eyes. By the time he has finished, you find yourself wondering what you found so difficult about the topic in the first place.

In "In the Beginning... was the Command Line," Stephenson performs just such a feat. He gives a potted history of operating systems, while arguing that GUI-based OSes tend to fail when we least expect it primarily because of the complexities they cover up.

I originally read "In the Beginning..." in 2000, around the time I was making my first tentative steps into the world of Linux. I loved it then. I was thrilled. Everything that he said about Linux excited …

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