[plug] [Fwd: In the Beginning was the Command Line]

[Bill Cullen]

FYI

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: In the Beginning was the Command Line
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 1999 22:31:52 -0600
From: "George(s) Lessard" <media at permafrost.com>
Reply-To: media at permafrost.com
Organization: http://www.web.net/~media/
To: SCIENCE-MATTERS at YOUR.abc.net.au

Stephenson, Neal. In the Beginning was the Command Line
   (http://www.cryptonomicon.com/beginning.html). - This longish
(207Kb,
   59 page, freely downloadable in PC Zip or Mac Stuffit) essay can
be
   summarized as an exploration of how we relate to operating
systems and
   interfaces, but that doesn't do justice to the humor, tangential
   comments and insights which make this a great summer read for
anyone
   interested in computers. The author is an experienced programmer
whose
   first novel, Snow Crash, is a computer geek fave and whose latest
is
   partially about cryptography. He's been intimate with Unix and
Linux,
   Windows and the Mac and Be operating systems; his metaphors for
those
   systems and the cultures that have grown up around them gave this
   reader many little epiphanies. (The car metaphor: the Mac OS is a
sleek
   but untinkerably sealed European sedan, Windows is a hulking,
   unreliable station wagon that everyone buys because everyone else
is
   buying it, Be is a Batmobile and Linux is a state-of-the-art tank
   available at a "dealership" consisting of yurts, tepees and RVs
with
   salespeople who are giving it away and will come fix it for
free). The
   essay is not just a bunch of cleverness - it's didactic and
   contentious. One of Stephenson's main arguments is that computer
users
   have become much too GUI'd away from a real understanding of how
their
   computers work. It's a convincing case made by a guy with a
technical
   background and the imagination to come up with a good analogy
between
   HTML and Ronald Reagan broadcasting a baseball game from a
windowless
   room. - JR
    
_________________________________________________________________

   Current Cites 10(6) (June 1999) ISSN: 1060-2356
   Copyright © 1999 by the Library, University of California,
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