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In the Beginning...Was the Command Line
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This is "the Word" -- one man's word, certainly -- about the art (and artifice) of the state of our computer-centric existence. And considering that the "one man" is Neal Stephenson, "the hacker Hemingway" (Newsweek) -- acclaimed novelist, pragmatist, seer, nerd-friendly philosopher, and nationally bestselling author of groundbreaking literary works (Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, etc., etc.) -- the word is well worth hearing. Mostly well-reasoned examination and partial rant, Stephenson's In the Beginning... was the Command Line is a thoughtful, irreverent, hilarious treatise on the cyber-culture past and present; on operating system tyrannies and downloaded popular revolutions; on the Internet, Disney World, Big Bangs, not to mention the meaning of life itself.
Book Actions
Start ReadingBook Information
In the Beginning...Was the Command Line
Description
This is "the Word" -- one man's word, certainly -- about the art (and artifice) of the state of our computer-centric existence. And considering that the "one man" is Neal Stephenson, "the hacker Hemingway" (Newsweek) -- acclaimed novelist, pragmatist, seer, nerd-friendly philosopher, and nationally bestselling author of groundbreaking literary works (Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, etc., etc.) -- the word is well worth hearing. Mostly well-reasoned examination and partial rant, Stephenson's In the Beginning... was the Command Line is a thoughtful, irreverent, hilarious treatise on the cyber-culture past and present; on operating system tyrannies and downloaded popular revolutions; on the Internet, Disney World, Big Bangs, not to mention the meaning of life itself.
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Reviews
A rudimentary knowledge of computers is indispensable nowadays, but it is amazing how little those of us who think we know basic computing actually know about the history of the operating systems that we use every day and how little we think about the impact they have on our views of life. Neal Stephenson has done that thinking for us, however, in a fascinatingly fun read that will make even the most technically averse suddenly feel like they get it. With sophisticated and artistic prose, he manages to find just the right metaphors to explain the differences between operating systems in a way that anyone can understand, managing in the process to speak truth about the human experience. Published in 1999, the book manages to feel more prescient than dated. The author is able to convey the fundamental philosophies behind Apple and Microsoft in ways that explain why little has changed since the days of the iMac and Windows NT, regardless of how many "upgrades" those companies have sold us since. After reading this book, you will look at your operating system of choice, and maybe even yourself, in a new light.
Rating: 5Wonderful novel and a timeless classic.This work has the potential to open the mind of the reader to other ways of approaching life and considering the role of men and women in society.The story is deceptively simple and a familiar format for science fiction but Le Guin creates a world so believable you will be convinced it must exist somewhere in the universe.Themes of love, friendship, compassion and sacrifice are subtly drawn to give the reader an experience at once satisfying and uplifting.James Pope
Rating: 5
I enjoyed reading about older technology, and reading the perspective of a pre millenial hacker, it actually inspired me to start using Linux again.
Rating: 4Excellent explanation of the OS/hardware wars between Microsoft and Apple. The nature of the battle has changed since this was written, but its still an excellent distillation of the history of the industry.
Rating: 5It's a fun book. Neal writes from the perspective of someone dropped into the operating systems world right about the time that some things were vanishing, and others were just coming into their own.For a better, more interesting overview, I recommend Peter H. Salus's "A Quarter Century of UNIX" or Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon's "Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet." Actually, you should read them both.As a sad note, this book was not printed on acid free paper, and I can see that it's already beginning to yellow, just a tiny bit.
Rating: 4This is an odd little essay about the nature of computer systems and user interfaces, though it's a little too dated to truly inform today's users except in a very broad sense.
For example, Stephenson proclaims his love for Linux, but reassures us it's actually pretty hard to use -- which is no longer true (most Linux distros offer nice, clean, *fast* GUIs that I prefer to Windows and the Mac).
He deconstructs the earlier years of Apple and Microsoft in an amusing and interesting way, and while his analogies often run pretty far afield, they do serve to illustrate the essential madness that defined Apple and Microsoft in the 1990s.
The value in this (for me) was his explanation of open source development and what it offers the end user. I arrived at many of the same conclusions independently (I was a hardcore Mac user from 1985 to 1995 when the Mac's constant crashes pushed me to Windows, though after a few days with Windows Vista on a new laptop, I installed Ubuntu Linux, which is now an easy-installing, easy-to-use OS).
I now run my 25 year-old marketing and consulting business from four Linux machines, so I understand Stephenson's love of the OS.
I'm less understanding of some of the wild digressions found in the book, and ultimately think I'm giving it three stars instead of two because I think several of his points are spot on (if a little hard to uncover).
For example, Writers should probably heed his warnings about proprietary file formats -- as a fulltime professional writer, 95% of my copy is written on programmer's text editors (including the Emacs editor Stephenson mentions in the book).
And yes, Linux is hugely elegant and offers users a choice of GUI or command line (it's not a coincidence the Mac OS is built atop a free version of Unix).
Interestingly, Stephenson -- a longtime Emacs text editor proponent -- said in an interview his latest book (Reamde) was written in Scrivener, a commercial Mac-only piece of writer's software that makes it easy to stitch together (and rearrange) scenes and chapters of a book.
I don't know if that means he's abandoned his beloved Linux in favor of the Mac (there is now a beta version of Scrivener available for Mac & Linux, though I don't believe it was available when he wrote the book), but it does mean portions of this book are no longer accurate.
Rating: 3For example, Stephenson proclaims his love for Linux, but reassures us it's actually pretty hard to use -- which is no longer true (most Linux distros offer nice, clean, *fast* GUIs that I prefer to Windows and the Mac).
He deconstructs the earlier years of Apple and Microsoft in an amusing and interesting way, and while his analogies often run pretty far afield, they do serve to illustrate the essential madness that defined Apple and Microsoft in the 1990s.
The value in this (for me) was his explanation of open source development and what it offers the end user. I arrived at many of the same conclusions independently (I was a hardcore Mac user from 1985 to 1995 when the Mac's constant crashes pushed me to Windows, though after a few days with Windows Vista on a new laptop, I installed Ubuntu Linux, which is now an easy-installing, easy-to-use OS).
I now run my 25 year-old marketing and consulting business from four Linux machines, so I understand Stephenson's love of the OS.
I'm less understanding of some of the wild digressions found in the book, and ultimately think I'm giving it three stars instead of two because I think several of his points are spot on (if a little hard to uncover).
For example, Writers should probably heed his warnings about proprietary file formats -- as a fulltime professional writer, 95% of my copy is written on programmer's text editors (including the Emacs editor Stephenson mentions in the book).
And yes, Linux is hugely elegant and offers users a choice of GUI or command line (it's not a coincidence the Mac OS is built atop a free version of Unix).
Interestingly, Stephenson -- a longtime Emacs text editor proponent -- said in an interview his latest book (Reamde) was written in Scrivener, a commercial Mac-only piece of writer's software that makes it easy to stitch together (and rearrange) scenes and chapters of a book.
I don't know if that means he's abandoned his beloved Linux in favor of the Mac (there is now a beta version of Scrivener available for Mac & Linux, though I don't believe it was available when he wrote the book), but it does mean portions of this book are no longer accurate.
At 160 pages, this slim volume is more of an extended essay than a full-blown book. Even at that brief length, however, what Stephenson attempts is fairly audacious: a history of personal-computer operating systems from 1984 to 1999; an introduction to Linux and the concept of free, open-source software; and (for lack of a better term) a philosophical inquiry into the nature of operating systems and their impact on the way users interact with and think about computers. That's a tall order for 160 pages, and it's not all equally successful. The historical survey of the contrasting approaches to operating-system development taken by Microsoft and Apple is fascinating, but it is brief: a history of concepts and business models rather than of the evolution of either Windows or Mac OS as actual pieces of usable software. The introduction to Linux is equally brief, but (from my non-Linux-using perspective) more comprehensive and more successful at conveying a sense of what Linux is and how it works. Stephenson's heart, however, is clearly in the third section of the book: The philosophical discussion of operating systems. He writes with eloquence and considerable passion about the power, flexibility, and customizability of Unix and Linux (its free, open-source descendent), and bemoans the preference of 98% of computer users for the expensive, bug-ridden, failure-prone, heavily mediated commercial alternatives: Windows and Mac OS.A lot of this philosophical material is interesting, regardless of what operating system one uses. Stevenson makes interesting points about graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and "mediated experience," about the differences between Windows and Linux tech support, and a dozen other things as well. He is frequently insightful, nearly always amusing to read, and makes an honest attempt to understand the position of the 98% of computer users who don’t think like he does. Yet, at some fundamental level, he Doesn't Get It.The most fundamental division in the computer-using world may be that separating those who care about how their OS works and those who care that it works. Stephenson clearly belongs to the first group and is just as clearly writing for members of the second group (his own cohort already knows the difference between source code and object code, the meaning of "open source," and other things he explains with such admirable clarity). Stephenson frames his arguments, however, as if he was writing for his own group . . . not those of us on the other side of the divide. He lauds the power, flexibility, and adaptability of Linux with the verve of someone who sees them as absolute virtues. He describes the steep learning curve and in-your-face complexity of Linux with the diffidence of someone who sees them as a challenge. Most of his intended audience would likely differ with him on both counts. The moderately powerful, flexible, reliable "devil you know" is, for most users, likely preferable to the more powerful, flexible, and reliable – but utterly alien – system that it would take months or years to become comfortable with, if that devil does the tasks they require of it with reasonable speed and efficiency. Usability is not a cardinal virtue on Stephenson's side of the divide, but it is perhaps the cardinal virtue on the side occupied by most rank-and-file users.None of this renders Stephenson's arguments void . . . Linux does have huge advantages, and the future of operating systems may well lie in free, open-source software. It does, however, give both author and book a huge blind spot, symbolized by Stephenson's apparent puzzlement that Linux hasn't triumphed yet.
Rating: 4Anyone who wants to understand operating systems needs to read this. It's a little dated, as Apple has moved to OSX since it was written, but it gives an insight to operating system mentalities that I have never seen anywhere else.
Rating: 5This essay will forever remind me of hacking in the 90s. It captured the zeitgeist perfectly, with wit and clarity.
Rating: 5Stephenson goes on a rant, amusing for the most part, to make the argument that computer operating systems (OS's) inherently lend themselves to crowd-sourcing, and it is bad business strategy on the part of Microsoft, Apple, and any other business to commit themselves to maintaining a proprietary OS. Overall, his argument is persuasive.Along the way, he discusses the concept and consequences of the metaphors employed in various OS's, especially those linked to GUIs; argues the strengths & weaknesses of Microsoft (a software company) and Apple (a hardware company); and explores the merits of a few other OS's (notably, UNIX, LINUS, and BeOS -- the latter of which I'd never heard of).Very nice primer on a variety of topics, though naturally the historical overview ends in 1999 when it was written.
Rating: 3The book is a good read and offers interesting insights into the command line versus GUI discussion. But it was published in 1999, before the internet got really big, before Google got really big. Microsoft still is around, so is Apple. BeOs however didn't survive, unlike Linux. Still, many of the lessons the book tries to bring across and many of the metaphors still apply.
Rating: 4A pretty basic review... I like Stephenson's writing, but the topic that he covers uses dated information. (Talking about the computer industry in 2000? Gasp!) I liked the 'Unix Philosophy' better.
Rating: 4i love this. This work not only highlights the power of a great operating system, it shows us how our laziness and convenience-laden society has left us vulnerable and weak. not strictly about computers at all, but about us as users.
Rating: 5Witty in the usual Stephenson way, and with some interesting observations about popular culture. But at the end of the day, I think Stephenson doesn't really understand computers and so makes the same silly mistakes as so many other people, like assuming that UNIX the OS equals UNIX the user environment.My understanding is that he's now a little ashamed of this book and realizes just how wrong he was in many parts of his rant.
Rating: 2Quick and Fun: "In the Beginning... was the Command Line" is that rarest of specimens: a short book written by Neal Stephenson. In truth, "Command Line" isn't really a book. It began its life as an online post, and was only published after the fact. In it, Stephenson sketches out a brief outline of the development of computers - especially personal computers and their operating systems - during the 1980s and '90s. It is a quick and fun read, filled with Stephensonian humor and creative metaphors that both entertain and enlighten.In the course of "Command Line," Stephenson briefly touches on the basics of programming before moving on to discuss the history of operating systems over the last twenty years. He looks at the main operating systems out there (specifically Mac, Windows, Linux, BeOS), how they evolved, and their attractions and advantages. His main points are that "it is the fate of operating systems to become free" and that Microsoft's commitment to maintaining its own closed operating system will cripple its broader software development activities, much in the way Apple was hurt by its insistence on producing its own hardware. Though not much is developed, there is a lot of interesting food for thought in these few pages.Stephen works largely through metaphors, and "Command Line" is written for the layperson. Few people should have any difficulty getting through the book, even without computer experience. Amazon's insistence that the book was written "for an audience of coders and hackers" strikes me as bizarre. There is almost nothing technical in "Command Line," and what is technical (a brief discussion of the Linux file tree is the only topic that comes to mind) is not critical to understanding any of his points and arguments.In addition to summarizing the history of operating systems, Stephenson also considers some related cultural topics, such as the significance of the graphical user interface as opposed to the command line. Although some of this was interesting, there were a few digressions I thought didn't work particularly well, and which I would have expected to be edited out (or at least significantly revised) before publishing.Although "Command Line" was written five years ago (a long time in the computer world), its age does not damage it much (especially in the historical sections). If you're interested in the history of personal computing over the last twenty years, "In the Beginning... was the Command Line" is a quick read that can serve as an entertaining introduction. Although it doesn't have much substance, it still manages to make many interesting points. Unless you are a hard-core Stephenson fanatic, "Command Line" is probably not worth purchasing. Since it was originally nothing more than a post on the Internet, it can still easily be found online.
Rating: 4