In the Beginning was the Command Line

Approximately twenty years ago, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, the founders of Apple, conceived the unusual notion of marketing information processing devices for domestic use. The venture proved to be a resounding success, and its founders amassed considerable wealth while receiving the accolades and recognition they deserved for their audacious vision and entrepreneurial spirit. However, at approximately the same time, Bill Gates and Paul Allen conceived of an even more unconventional and ambitious concept: the sale of computer operating systems. This concept was considerably more unconventional than the idea proposed by Jobs and Wozniak. A computer, at the very least, had a tangible, physical existence. The product was delivered in a box, which could be opened and connected to a power source. Once activated, the user could observe the display of lights. An operating system is not a tangible entity. The operating system was distributed on a disk, which, in essence, was merely the packaging for the software. The product was a lengthy sequence of ones and zeros, which, when correctly installed and maintained, enabled the manipulation of other similarly lengthy sequences of ones and zeros. Even those few who possessed an accurate understanding of what a computer operating system was were prone to view it as an exceedingly sophisticated engineering marvel, akin to a breeder reactor or a U-2 spy plane. They were unlikely to consider it as a potential product in the same way that other high-tech entities were.

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