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Neal Stephenson

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

by Neal Stephenson (Author)

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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.

Print length

160 pages
Language

English
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William Morrow Paperbacks
Publication date

November 9, 1999
Dimensions

5.25 x 0.36 x 8 inches
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9780380815937
ISBN-13

978-0380815937
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From the Publisher

More classic nonfiction from #1 New York Times bestselling author Neal Stephenson


	Some Remarks	In the Beginning...Was the Command Line

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.

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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 ‏ : ‎ 8.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.36 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #468,739 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #135 in Unix Operating System
- #193 in Microsoft Office Guides
- #275 in Linux Operating System

Customer Reviews:
229 ratings

About the author

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Neal Stephenson

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Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer, known for his speculative fiction works, which have been variously categorized science fiction, historical fiction, maximalism, cyberpunk, and postcyberpunk. Stephenson explores areas such as mathematics, cryptography, philosophy, currency, and the history of science. He also writes non-fiction articles about technology in publications such as Wired Magazine, and has worked part-time as an advisor for Blue Origin, a company (funded by Jeff Bezos) developing a manned sub-orbital launch system.

Born in Fort Meade, Maryland (home of the NSA and the National Cryptologic Museum) Stephenson came from a family comprising engineers and hard scientists he dubs "propeller heads". His father is a professor of electrical engineering whose father was a physics professor; his mother worked in a biochemistry laboratory, while her father was a biochemistry professor. Stephenson's family moved to Champaign-Urbana, Illinois in 1960 and then to Ames, Iowa in 1966 where he graduated from Ames High School in 1977. Stephenson furthered his studies at Boston University. He first specialized in physics, then switched to geography after he found that it would allow him to spend more time on the university mainframe. He graduated in 1981 with a B.A. in Geography and a minor in physics. Since 1984, Stephenson has lived mostly in the Pacific Northwest and currently resides in Seattle with his family.

Neal Stephenson is the author of the three-volume historical epic "The Baroque Cycle" (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World) and the novels Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Zodiac. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Customer reviews

5 star		47%
4 star		33%
3 star		12%
2 star		6%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Matthew RapaportTop Contributor: Philosophy

Now ancient history but if you've never heard of a "command line" will clue you in

Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2018

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I must remember to check the dates on books like this before I jump at a good price deal. This book is now very long in the tooth. It covers what amounts to some history not so much of computers but of how users interact with them. Written almost 20 years ago now so much has changed and the nature of our interactions with information machines of all types has evolved so much that this short book ends up being mostly about ancient (in machine interaction terms) history.

A few things haven't changed much. Apple and Microsoft still fight it out in both corporate and personal markets, but Linux (evolved from Unix through GNU) has largely taken over the big server market with some competition from Microsoft. BE (which Stephenson liked) hasn't been heard from in 15 years. There are still mainframes around, but these drop out of this story after the appearance of reasonably business-capable microcomputers. I began my career around the same time as Stephenson using paper teletypes, card stacks and glass TTYs.

Stephenson's thrust here is the change from typing words (or symbols) on a command line to what passed for modern graphical interfaces, Windows and the Macintosh in the late 1990s. Today's users would still recognize these early departures from the command line. They were, after all, the beginning of the "graphical interfaces" we have today, But people would also recognize the Model T's relation to the modern automobile and its evolution away from the horse and buggy. Windows NT (as far forward in time as this story goes) has about as much in common with the Microsoft Surface and the Mac Book Pro, not to mention Android, the IPAD, and the now evolving virtual reality interfaces as the Model T has to today's cars.

I had thought Stephenson was going to say something profound about those early graphics as goes their effect on human psychology, but he does not. He does mention the strong allegiances various groups had to particular operating systems and how these affected their markets, but again, while polarized allegiances are still very much in evidence, the particulars have changed radically. One might say that this book has value as history, but even at that it is woefully incomplete.

In the 80s and early 90s there were a half dozen or more good, in terms of technology, not market share, competitors (in addition to BE) to MSDOS, Windows, and the Mac. Back in those days the hardware was not powerful enough to handle the rich sort of graphics and touch screens we all come to expect today, but clever operating system developers found ways around those limitations and produced graphic-like interfaces that were still basically text. Some of these had features not seen in even today's advanced systems. Who here has heard of Oasis, or Pick? Stephenson never mentions them.

So OK the book is a "history lite" of the user experience with computers and I can't fault him for not anticipating the 21st Century back in 1999. But given that all he had to go on was the 30 years from roughly 1970 to 1999, he still leaves out a lot.

16 people found this helpful

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Matthew H. Dick

Engaging overview of operating systems for the non-specialist.

Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2017

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This is a brief history of, and commentary on, the development of computer operating systems in the context of the competing business models of Apple and Microsoft, and how newer freeware operating systems like Linux relate to these corporate structures. As with all of this author's works, the writing is interesting and engaging. It is written for the lay-person, and I learned a lot from it. Published in 2009 and covering the state of affairs in the personal computer industry probably up to 2007-08, the book is now somewhat outdated. Much has happened in the past 10 years, the bulk of it not very good or encouraging. How about a sequel? Why has commonly used software like Microsoft Office passed the point of maximum efficiency in the user-to-operating-system interface? Why, with every new release, is it becoming increasingly cumbersome and dumbed-down to the point of uselessness.

11 people found this helpful

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Mark P. McDonald

A bit outdated, but if you read between the lines there are some great points here.

Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2019

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On the surface this book is well past its prime. Stephenson penned this 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. Here are my thoughts on why you should read this short, outdated, technically oriented book.

Stephenson explores a number of themes behind the technology discussion that are interesting and worth your consideration. The primary one is the difference between people who seek to engage a system through the command line and those who want to use a GUI. The command line gives you access to the deep parts of a system, requires understanding and gives you control. The GUI is superficial etc.

The reading helps you understand Stephenson’s other books, particularly SnowCrash. Its not as good as “Some Remarks” but it provides some insight.

Its nostalgia for people who were active at the start of the PC computer revolution. Its easy to forget in this digital age, what it was really like at the start.

Overall, not a book that you have to run out and buy right away. 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.

3 people found this helpful

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Squeaky

Rant disguised as a novel

Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2019

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I am a fan of Neal Stephenson and work in the IT industry. This book seemed like a no-brainer for me. I ignored all the negative reviews, because those couldn't be from real fans, could they? Wrong. Even when it came out, this was not a book - it was a rant. A long, repetitive rant. I'm so glad I've read so many of Stephenson's other excellent books - if this were my first taste, I'd not have had that pleasure.

First time Stephanson readers, don't give up - pick up "Snow Crash" or "Diamond Girl" or "Anathem" or "Reamde" or "Cryptonomicon" or ... well just don't give up on him as an author. He is brilliant and versatile and you will find a book that suits your taste and understand why I and many others will keep reading his books.

2 people found this helpful

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R. Harvey

Very Dated

Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2019

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Stephenson has an interesting style. If you were part of the era and technology this book covers, and are into nostalgia for those good old days, the style plus content might keep you entertained long enough to finish this brief work. But it was written for a pretty small audience and the world in which it is placed is but a faded memory even to them. While the fundamentals haven’t changed, much of this is historical, all of which is now trivia.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Dated but still relevant.

Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2018

Verified Purchase

This book made me feel justified in my snobby opinions of Unix and low opinions of Windows and Mac. Considering it was written nearly 20 years ago, it's quite insightful and predicts a lot of what happened with the business of operating systems since then. Stephenson's analogies for everything from configuration files to the operating systems themselves are clever and easy to understand. His class analysis of the metaphors used in ui design were interesting even in today's lense, where these topics are more a part of the collective consciousness. About as entertaining as a book on this subject could be.

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Jeremy Walton

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.

2 people found this helpful

R. G. Milner

An excellent read although somewhat dated.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 9, 2005

Verified Purchase

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.

11 people found this helpful

Alastair Whitelaw, Glasgow, Scotland

Going against the grain

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 24, 2012

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Neal Stephenson is always worth reading. This extended essay is a hugely entertaining discussion of computer operating systems and their influence on the development of the modern personal computer. Obviously it's over a decade old by now, but it did help this non-techie to understand some of the issues still prevalent in computer use even today. It's all expressed with quintessential Stephenson humour and is based on his own deep engagement with the topic. Never again will I feel put down by my many Mac-toting friends and colleagues....

J. Westwood Chandler

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 5, 2015

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A must

Rosie

Three Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 18, 2014

Verified Purchase

Did not enjoy as much as I reckoned I would.

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