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In the Beginning...was the Command Line Paperback – November 9, 1999

by Neal Stephenson (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 480 ratings
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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.

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  1. Print length
    160 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    William Morrow Paperbacks
  4. Publication date
    November 9, 1999
  5. Dimensions
    5.25 x 0.36 x 8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9780380815937
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0380815937
  8. See all details
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From the Publisher

More classic nonfiction from #1 New York Times bestselling author Neal Stephenson
Some Remarks by Neal Stephenson In the Beginning...Was the Command Line
Some Remarks In the Beginning...Was the Command Line
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4.4 out of 5 stars
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4.2 out of 5 stars
480
Price $11.99 $13.19

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Neal Stephenson, author of the sprawling and engaging Cryptonomicon, has written a manifesto that could be spoken by a character from that brilliant book. Primarily, In the Beginning ... Was the Command Line discusses the past and future of personal computer operating systems. "It is the fate of manufactured goods to slowly and gently depreciate as they get old," he writes, "but it is the fate of operating systems to become free." While others in the computer industry express similarly dogmatic statements, Stephenson charms the reader into his way of thinking, providing anecdotes and examples that turn the pages for you.

Stephenson is a techie, and he's writing for an audience of coders and hackers in Command Line. The idea for this essay began online, when a shortened version of it was posted on Slashdot.org. The book still holds some marks of an e-mail flame gone awry, and some tangents should have been edited to hone his formidable arguments. But unlike similar writers who also discuss technical topics, he doesn't write to exclude; readers who appreciate computing history (like Dealers of Lightning or Fire in the Valley) can easily step into this book.

Stephenson tackles many myths about industry giants in this volume, specifically Apple and Microsoft. By now, every newspaper reader has heard of Microsoft's overbearing business practices, but Stephenson cuts to the heart of new issues for the software giant with a finely sharpened steel blade. Apple fares only a little better as Stephenson (a former Mac user himself) highlights the early steps the company took to prepare for a monopoly within the computer market--and its surprise when this didn't materialize. Linux culture gets a thorough--but fair--skewering, and the strengths of BeOS are touted (although no operating system is nearly close enough to perfection in Stephenson's eyes).

As for the rest of us, who have gladly traded free will and an intellectual understanding of computers for a clutter-free, graphically pleasing interface, Stephenson has thoughts to offer as well. He fully understands the limits nonprogrammers feel in the face of technology (an example being the "blinking 12" problem when your VCR resets itself). Even so, within Command Line he convincingly encourages us as a society to examine the metaphors of technology--simplifications that aren't really much simpler--that we greedily accept. --Jennifer Buckendorff

From Publishers Weekly

After reading this galvanizing essay, first intended as a feature for Wired magazine but never published there, readers are unlikely to look at their laptops in quite the same mutely complacent way. Stephenson, author of the novel Cryptonomicon, delivers a spirited commentary on the aesthetics and cultural import of computer operating systems. It's less an archeology of early machines than a critique of what Stephenson feels is the inherent fuzziness of graphical user interfacesAthe readily intuitable "windows," "desktops" and "browsers" that we use to talk to our computers. Like Disney's distortion of complicated historical events, our operating systems, he argues, lull us into a reductive sense of reality. Instead of the visual metaphors handed to us by Apple and Microsoft, Stephenson advocates the purity of the command line interface, somewhat akin to the DOS prompt from which most people flee in a technophobic panic. Stephenson is an advocate of Linux, the hacker-friendly operating system distributed for free on the Internet, and of BeOS, a less-hyped paradigm for the bits-and-bytes future. Unlike a string of source code, this essay is user-friendlyAoccasionally to a fault. Stephenson's own set of extended metaphors can get a little hokey: Windows is a station wagon, while Macs are sleek Euro-sedans. And Unix is the Gilgamesh epic of the hacker subculture. Nonetheless, by pointing out how computers define who we are, Stephenson makes a strong case for elegance and intellectual freedom in computing. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0380815931
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow Paperbacks; First Paperback Edition (November 9, 1999)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780380815937
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0380815937
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.36 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 480 ratings

About the author

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Neal Stephenson

Neal Stephenson

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NEAL STEPHENSON is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the novels Termination Shock, Fall; or, Dodge in Hell, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (with Nicole Galland), Seveneves, Reamde, Anathem, The System of the World, The Confusion, Quicksilver, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, Zodiac, the groundbreaking nonfiction work In the Beginning . . . Was the Command Line, and Some Remarks, a collection of short fiction and nonfiction. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
480 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book highly enjoyable, interesting, and entertaining. They describe the writing style as palatable, good, and cogent. Opinions are mixed on the history of operating systems, with some finding it engaging and well-written, while others say it's dated and past its prime.

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ReadabilityThought provokingWriting styleErasure
29 customers mention "Readability"29 positive0 negative

Customers find the book highly enjoyable, interesting, and entertaining. They say it's a quick read.

"This book is an excellent and plain-spoken commentary on both the OS wars and the direction media and technology are driving world culture...." Read more

"...This book will still be a highly enjoyable read if you have the soul of a nerd, as I do." Read more

"...on, but most people besides programmers won't need to care. It's a fun ride, and you'll certainly finish knowing more than you did when you..." Read more

"...But something worth reading, I know I have been hovering around this book for some time and decided to pick it up. Glad that I did." Read more

25 customers mention "Thought provoking"19 positive6 negative

Customers find the book insightful, informative, and educational. They say it enlightens and distills perspective in a few short chapters. Readers also mention the book is well-written and researched.

"...for that should stick to PCWEEK and O'Reilly This book distills a lot of perspective in a few short chapters...." Read more

"...multilayered and filled with palatable prose and a thought provoking potpourri of information that, especially in the case of this essay in book..." Read more

"...This book was educational for someone who takes advantage of modern OSes, and it also sheds light on the blissful console command times...." Read more

"...heat than light when it comes to the "OS War." It's somewhat weak on history, and a bit out of touch with what the average computer user..." Read more

16 customers mention "Writing style"16 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing style multilayered, palatable, and thought-provoking. They describe the book as an excellent, plain-spoken commentary on both the OS wars and the Cold War. Readers also mention the voice strikes a nice balance between telling and portraying. Additionally, they say it's filled with memorable statements that sometimes border on profound.

"This book is an excellent and plain-spoken commentary on both the OS wars and the direction media and technology are driving world culture...." Read more

"...systems is, like most of his writing, multilayered and filled with palatable prose and a thought provoking potpourri of information that, especially..." Read more

"...that turns on quickly, that doesn't wreck their stuff, and is easy to use. Windows isn't that - but neither is Linux...." Read more

"...As a computer person and programmer, I really enjoyed the content and writing style." Read more

16 customers mention "Erasure"6 positive10 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book. Some mention it's a great history of operating systems, engaging, and well-written. Others say it's dated and hasn't aged well.

"...the book is very dated and b) Macintosh made the very smart decision to move their OS to a UNIX based product...." Read more

"...for everything from configuration files to the operating systems themselves are clever and easy to understand...." Read more

"...book back when Windows NT was new, so the technical advice is old, outdated etc. However that does not mean that the book is irrelevant...." Read more

"This book in an amazing review of the history of computers and programming. Stephenson's writing is, as always, fantastic...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Walt Morton
5.0 out of 5 stars Smart perspective in plain english...
Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2000
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This book is an excellent and plain-spoken commentary on both the OS wars and the direction media and technology are driving world culture. While other reviews have complained that some topics are inadequately covered, for example the Be operating system, they are missing the point that this is neither a review of Be for the uninitiated, nor a some kind of technical manual. People looking for that should stick to PCWEEK and O'Reilly This book distills a lot of perspective in a few short chapters. For those who are willing to accept Stephenson's arguments without a lot of direct evidence this is an insanely useful book. Of course, if you don't believe him, you can test his conclusions just by running four or five computers in your home with the various OSes installed. More important than his commentaries on the relative merits of the OS are his fun yet chilling thoughts in chapters like THE INTERFACE CULTURE where he discusses Disneyland and our love for mediated experience. This is the same territory investigated by semiotician Umberto Eco in his book Travels in Hyperreality but Stephenson is more lucid & terse, and does not bog himself down with theoretical constructs.This book is worth any four college texts in critical theory and should be read by MBA's as well as anybody working with the media. Don't discount it just because it feels like light reading and more the journalistic essay than the scholarly dissertation.
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Penfist
4.0 out of 5 stars Not for everyone but well worth reading if you like going for deep dives
Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2005
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In the Beginning...Was the Command Line

Originally published in 1999, Neal's essay on operating systems is, like most of his writing, multilayered and filled with palatable prose and a thought provoking potpourri of information that, especially in the case of this essay in book form, often requires rereading for proper digestion.

Neal has a lot to say in Command Line.

First and foremost, I walked away with the following impression: in the world of Neal, Windows is a necessary but doomed operating system. Neal explains why as only he can. He also tells you why Apple is doomed and Microsoft might be. Furthermore, Neal explains that there are better operating systems available and makes a case for why you might want to try them out: they are free, and they don't crash. These two operating systems are Linux, which is a variant of UNIX and BeOS, which is the product of a mad Frenchman but which has many merits that outweigh the product's French origins.

Command Line is filled with memorable statements that sometimes border on or are in all actuality, profound.

For instance - "Contemporary culture is a two-tiered system, like the Morlocks and the Eloi in H.G. Wells The Time Machine, except it has been turned upside down. In The Time Machine, the Eloi were an effete upper class supported by lots of subterranean Morlocks who kept the technological wheels turning. But in our world, it's the other way round. The Morlocks are in the minority, and they are running the show, because they understand how everything works. The much more numerous Eloi learn everything they know from being steeped from birth in electronic media directed and controlled by book-reading Morlocks. That many ignorant people could be dangerous if they got pointed in the wrong direction, and so we've evolved a popular culture that is (a) almost unbelievably infectious, and (b) neuters every person who get infected by it, by rendering them unwilling to make judgments and incapable of taking stands."

In other words, Neal is saying, there are the people who read the book and there are the people who only watch the movie that is made about the book, and the people who read the book are the people who really know what the author was saying. The people who watch the movie don't really get it, because they get the filtered version, the dumbed down version, the version built for mass consumption by those who are less intelligent or perhaps just not as focused.

Command Line isn't for everyone. It's for Morlocks, or those who want to be Morlocks. If you've never owned a pocket protector, opened your computer case up or tinkered with the innards of any of the plethora of electronic devices you own, then you probably won't consume this book with relish, as I did.

Now, if you've stuck with my review to this paragraph, you likely are the type who will enjoy Command Line. Most importantly, you are, in all probability, the type to ponder on and eventually benefit from Neal's closing, in which he compares God to an engineer and remind his readers that, "if you don't like having your choices made for you, you should start making your own."

I came away from reading Command Line thoroughly convinced that I need to explore BeOS when I return from the war I'm currently fighting. And of course, I will continue making my own choices whenever possible, rather than letting others make them for me.

Update: Since I wrote the review I've been talking to people and reading Neal's web site. Two things are apparent to me: a) the book is very dated and b) Macintosh made the very smart decision to move their OS to a UNIX based product. This book will still be a highly enjoyable read if you have the soul of a nerd, as I do.
6 people found this helpful
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Noah Green
3.0 out of 5 stars missing history, strange conclusions
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2000
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I'm a professional programmer and an avid Linux owner. I'm always happy when someone throws a little barb at Microsoft or Apple. That having been said, I think this book generates more heat than light when it comes to the "OS War." It's somewhat weak on history, and a bit out of touch with what the average computer user wants.
A glaring omission is the early history of Stephenson's beloved Unix. To hear him tell it, Unix begins with Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds. Now, to be sure these two are giants whose shoulders we stand upon, but where is the story of Unix's actual invention at AT&T in the early 70s? The word "AT&T" appears only once in the book, briefly cited as something that Stallman was reacting against. The dark side of Unix's corporate past - the fact that Unix originally was a proprietary operating system under AT&T, and that AT&T completely missed the point of Unix and sold the license to Novell, who also blew it - would have fit right in with Stephenson's argument. Basically, for Stephenson, Unix IS Linux. There is no description whatsoever of the rich Unix tradition that precedes the founding of the Free Software Foundation, nor of the contributions that commercial Unixes like SunOS and Solaris have made, such as NFS, NIS, etc., nor of academic contributions like BSD or X. Stephenson lauds XWindows but makes it seem as if it too were a product of his open-source, hacker utopia - and not of the MIT X Consortium. These traditions were direct antecedents of today's hacker community, and Stephenson gives them short shrift.
Finally, there is Stephenson smugly chiding us on how GUIs make us into sheep led by a corporate shepherd. But he undermines his own argument by detailing (pretty factually) the time and sweat of installing and using Linux. So we are supposed to like this better than Microsoft? For the uninitiated, it sucks just as much - maybe more! If you are a programmer and a professional, Linux/Unix is the best route to go down. For the rest, people want something that turns on quickly, that doesn't wreck their stuff, and is easy to use. Windows isn't that - but neither is Linux. Stephenson is missing out on the real story: the imminent destruction of the personal computer as we know it. Someday very soon, small, highly-networked, specialized devices will replace the generalized, complicated computer. People will only pay for what they need. And what they get will be appliances, things that require neither a $95 per call help line (Microsoft) nor a descent into the depths of hacker message boards (Linux), to fix. Something like a TV set. Probably Linux or its descendant will be the operating system that these things will run on, but most people besides programmers won't need to care.
It's a fun ride, and you'll certainly finish knowing more than you did when you started. If I had to do it over, I'd buy and read this book again. But there is much more than this.
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Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Muy bueno.
Reviewed in Spain on November 19, 2019
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Genial. Un clasico.
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thibaud
4.0 out of 5 stars Once upon a time, there was no Windows...
Reviewed in France on October 13, 2009
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The book is a really well written in-depth look at the way we see a computer. The author takes the case of the Personal Computer and the history behind OSeses like BEoS, PCDOS, MS Dos and Windows. It can be considered obsolete and out of date if you do not really pay attention to what a computer is and what it is not. It is actually universal if you take a step back and see down the line on how things can be or could have been. The chapter about the GUI was a good analysis about what our PCs might have been today if people were more thorough about making a decision based on something else than just mere looks. Overall this book is easy to read and while it gets theoretically detailed about notions that most of computer users have forgotten or will never need to know, it is really interesting and never a bore.
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Perseus
5.0 out of 5 stars "Brevity is the soul of wit"
Reviewed in Germany on February 2, 2009
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"In the Beginning was the Command Line" ist ein kompaktes Essay, in dem sich Neal Stephenson auf SEHR ironische Weise mit der Geschichte von Betriebsystemen auseinandersetzt: Ohne Wissen der meisten Benutzer tobt schon seit Jahren ein Kampf zwischen zwei ganz unterschiedlichen Bedienkonzepten.

Auf der einen Seite: Die Verfechter der grafischen Benutzeroberflächen (Buttons, Menüs, Regler usw.). Alles soll möglichst "schön" aussehen und Einsteiger animieren.

Auf der anderen Seite: Die Puristen. Die Programmierer. Sie bevorzugen die direkte Kontrolle über den Computer, eben die Kommandozeile.

Mit diesem Gegensatz als Aufmacher führt Stephenson den Leser nicht nur in die Funktionsweise von Betriebsystemen ein (was auch für einige Lacher sorgt; lassen Sie sich von den "Auto"-Metaphern überraschen, die in keinem Buch über EDV fehlen dürfen), sondern spannt sogar noch den Bogen für (ein wenig) Kritik an der westlichen Konsumgesellschaft ("Morlocks" vs. "Eloi").

In einem Wort: Herrlich.

[Das Buch kann auch von weniger technisch veranlagten Lesern verstanden werden; jene sind sogar meines Erachtens die Zielgruppe, denn Stephenson möchte nicht zuletzt auch erläutern, wie sich unser Umgang mit dem Computer verändert hat.]
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R. G. Milner
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent read although somewhat dated.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 9, 2005
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This is an excellent book, a very entertaining and worthwhile read if you are at all interested in modern computer operating systems.
However, like all computer science books, the technological aspect of it has already dated considerably, reducing its relevance as a survey. This is of course inevitable in such a fast-moving field. I would be very interested to read an updated edition taking into account the current situation in the OS marketplace.
Stephenson primarily contrasts Windows(tm), Linux, MacOS and BeOS. Out of these systems, BeOS is basically dead, MacOS has undergone a sea change (to a considerable extent building on BeOS and Linux), Linux has grown in sophistication and user-friendliness, and Windows is... still basically Windows with some extra knobs on it.
The book should not be ignored, though. The fundamental issue Stephenson comments on - whether it's possible to control complex equipment through simplified interfaces - is never going to disappear. It's also an entertaining read simply for the author's wonderful use of language.
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Jeremy Walton
4.0 out of 5 stars Words and pictures
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 7, 2014
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In this little book (whose length is more befitting of an essay), Neal Stephenson displays an impressive depth of technical knowledge about how computers work, particularly in the area of user interfaces: the means by which we make them do the things we want. He uses that as a jumping-off point to tease out the differences between typing commands and manipulating objects on a screen, and what that means for how we think about what we're doing. It's a characteristically stimulating collection of ideas - thus, at one point, he suggests an analogy between a graphical user interface (GUI) and Disney World: both "are in the same business: short-circuiting laborious, explicit verbal communication with expensively designed interfaces." He's concerned that an overuse of a GUI leads us into an unfamiliarity with the written word - in roughly the same way, I imagine, that a commentator of fifty years ago would contend that watching too much television leaves less time for reading books, and hence increasing levels of illiteracy.

It's an interesting observation, even if the technological examples he uses have inevitably become dated since the book was first published in 1999. This of course is an inevitable consequence of writing about the current state of a fast-moving technical landscape (for example, he says his favourite user interface is BeOS, whose development company was to be dissolved two years after this book came out). But the ideas contained in the book are stimulating enough to have persisted for longer than the technology, and there's been at least one attempt (not written by the original author) to update its examples and observations. One of the reasons this has been possible is that the text is apparently freely available on the net. But it's still nice to have the book.
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