In the Beginning... Was the Command Line

I just finished reading Neal Stephenson's "In the Beginning... Was the Command Line", first published in 1999. If you're any kind of hacker, coder, computer geek, or just someone interested in how modern personal computers came to be, this book is for you. I greatly enjoyed the book, and Stephenson's witty, smart style, but I'm not really sure what conclusion(s) I should draw from it.

The book is short (151 pages), and reads like a long essay. Stephenson quickly covers the history of the personal computer and the evolution of their operating systems, concentrating on Microsoft's and Apple's products. He discusses things like why it's hard to make a living selling operating systems, and what Microsoft and Apple have had to do to survive, which is to keep the products very proprietary, and continually one-up each other with with features in each new release. He then covers the GNU/Linux phenomenon is some detail, and makes a good case for why you should at least try it some time. The benefit is that you will have a chance to experience the "freedom" that comes from using a free, non-proprietary operating system, and the ability to tinker with the system to your heart's content without worrying about voiding your warranty. Plus, it's just a great excuse to "stick it to the man"!

One of my personal favorite quotes is on page 95, where Stephenson describes the main text editors used in the GNU/Linux world: vi and Emacs. He says, "I use emacs, which might be thought of as a thermonuclear word processor." Being a recent convert and fan of Emacs myself, I love this comment! I think it's a very accurate description of this most versatile tool.

Cautionary Note - If you visit Stephenson's web site, you'll find this interesting comment: "In the Beginning was the Command Line is now badly obsolete and probably needs a thorough revision. For the last couple of years I have been a Mac OS X user almost exclusively."

Hooray! Mac OS wins in the end!

J.A.W.