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Title: In the Beginning...was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson ISBN: 0-380-81593-1 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 09 November, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.84 (75 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Dated, but still fun
Comment: _________________________________
Stephenson opens with a neat analogy -- computer operating systems
companies as auto manufacturers:
"...Eventually the big dealership came out with a full-fledged car:
a colossal station wagon (Windows 95). It had all the aesthetic
appeal of a Soviet worker housing block, it leaked oil and blew
gaskets, and it was an enormous success..."
Compare this to the Linux guys, "a bunch of RVs, yurts, tepees, and
geodesic domes set up in a field." Here's their sales pitch:
Hacker with bullhorn: "Save your money! Accept one of our free
tanks! It is invulnerable, and can drive across rocks and swamps
at ninety miles an hour while getting a hundred miles to the
gallon!"
Prospective station wagon buyer: "I know what you say is
true...but...er...I don't know how to maintain a tank!"
Bullhorn: "But if you accept one of our free tanks we will send
volunteers to your house to fix it for free while you sleep!"
Buyer: "Stay away from my house, you freak!!"
This is a very entertaining book. It's aimed at the Unix-literate (whose ranks
certainly don't include me), but anyone who's messed about with computers
will find some goodies. Like Microsloth technical "support" -- Our Hero is
attempting to install Windows NT 4.0 :
"The installation program simply stopped in the middle,
with no error messages. I went to the Microsoft Support website
and tried to perform a search for existing help documents that
would address my problem. The search engine was completely
nonfunctional; it did nothing at all. It did not even give me a
message telling me that it was not working...
So I created a new Microsoft support account, then logged on to
submit the incident. I supplied my product ID number when asked,
and then began to follow the instructions on a series of help
screens... I was never able to submit my bug report,
because the series of linked web pages that I was filling
out eventually led me to a completely blank page: a dead end.
So I went back and clicked on the buttons for "phone support" and
eventually was given a Microsoft telephone number. When I dialed
this number I got a series of piercing beeps and a recorded
message from the phone company saying "We're sorry, your call
cannot be completed as dialed..."
"Technical writers" are usually in the same league as "military
intelligence," but Stephenson is one of our best writers in any genre.
Don't miss this one. Highly recommended.
This appears to be exactly the same text that Stephenson posted
online in early 1999. It's nice to have it available as a book, but it's
still available free [Google]. Unfortunately, in porting his text to print,
the publishers failed to add either a ToC or an index (bad, bad Avon!)
-- a major inconvenience, which I worked around by downloading a
searchable copy. Saved retyping all these cool quotes, too.
Rating: 3
Summary: A good, philosophical read on operating-system controversies
Comment: Windows, Mac OS, Linux, BeOS- Neal Stephenson has used all of these operating systems, and in "In the Beginning... was the Command Line", he compiles his thoughts on each of them. The book is not a technical review or even a thorough comparison/contrast/evaluation, but more or less just tells the reader about Stephenson's experiences with each and his resulting opinion. A bit of background on the evolution of the divergent systems helps to flesh out the opinion with some insight into why each occupies the niche it does.
This is not a book for people looking for a detailed examination of the long-running "Windows v. Mac" debate, but whether you've spent your computing life on one side of the fence or the other, or like Stephenson have jumped over it a few times, it's valuable because it's an honest, well-expressed statement of a point of view. Not inspired- certainly not the way Stephenson's fiction is- but a good, solid, short read.
Rating: 4
Summary: Entertaining as Neal always is..
Comment: Neal Stephenson may be more widely known for his more serious and fictional works being Cryptonomicron, Snow Crash, Quicksilver and others, but this thought flow essay is an entertaining romp through the history of the Command Prompt and Graphical User Interface. By showing the strengths and weaknesses of each through metaphors and similies, even the least technical people can find humor in this little history; most will even feel pitty for Neal and fellow techs who have been through the last 30 years of computing.
Though most people would feel that the simplest and easiest method is always better, only the least experienced users will agree. There are more tools and control through a Command Prompt then there will ever be using a GUI(Graphica User Interface) and honestly that will never change.
The book is a great read that will keep a little smile on your face then entire time and sometimes even get a giggle. This was fun and entertaining and recomended to anyone that uses a computer.
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Title: Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1) by Neal Stephenson ISBN: 0380977427 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: The Big U by Neal Stephenson ISBN: 0380816032 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 05 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Confusion (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 2) by Neal Stephenson ISBN: 0060523867 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 13 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson ISBN: 0060512806 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 05 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Snow Crash by NEAL STEPHENSON ISBN: 0553380958 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 02 May, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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