[aklug] Re: a different take on the OS-as-car analogy

I just wanted to make the comment that both "...Command Line" and
"Cryptonomicon" are fantastic works by Neal Stephenson, especially if
you're at all a geek-type person. I had initially got into Stephenson
reading "Snow Crash," which was Stephenson's superb contribution to
the cyberpunk genre, which convinced me that decent fiction can be
written about computers, language, and the intersection thereof. I
later read "Cryptonomicon" and "...Command Line" in exploring more of
his computer-related writing. "...Command Line" is a short series of
essays Stephenson wrote about the state of things in the OS world
circa 1999, most of which applies today, particularly the parts about
the psychological ninjutsu involved in human-computer interfaces, as
well as clever OS-as-car analogies. "Cryptonomicon" is historical
fiction novel, going through the history of cryptography both in WWII
era Britain and late-1990's Internet startups. Pretty amazing, even if
you aren't much of a crypto-nut (I am but a lowly programmer, and even
I was able to hang on).

Alright, alright. I'm done.

On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 9:21 AM, Royce Williams <royce@alaska.net> wrote:
> Royce Williams wrote, on 8/1/2008 9:19 AM:
>> It's the first section of this page:
>>
>> http://stake.tk/works/commandline-excerpts.php
>>
>>
>> A fun read, especially the Linux parts.
>
> I forgot to mention that this is an excerpt from "In the Beginning was
> the Command Line" by Neal Stephenson.
>
> http://www.cryptonomicon.com/beginning.html
>
>
> Royce
>
> --
> Royce D. Williams - http://royce.ws/
> Science-fiction balances you on the cliff. Fantasy shoves you off. -RB
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Received on Fri Aug 1 13:16:25 2008