The Return of the Command Line
I recently came across this piece by Don Norman in which he explains why he thinks the command line is the *new* PC user interface. Norman believes search engines are turning into answer engines by way of command line "scripting" (think Google's "define:term" command). Also, newer operating systems incorporate powerful search because the desktop folder metaphor is breaking down, partly because of the number and size of files, e.g.:
"I have one half a Gigabyte of data in my mail files, 700 folders and 6000 files in my documents folder, and 4,500 photographs." Norman
While reading Norman's command line piece, I was reminded of two other and most enjoyable texts. There is really no reason for me to write about this - it is entirely on a rant or association. The Norman piece just reminded me of these other texts and I thought I would link to them.
The first text is very much in tune with Norman - Clay Shirky explains why schemes of categorization are intrinsically challenged and why a complex and ever-changing world benefits from links, tags and not least Google's approach to search.
The second piece is by Neal Stephenson - in "In the beginning was the command line" Stephenson unravels the shortcomings of the Graphical User Interface (GUI) and how the command line lurks just beneath the mediated GUI experience, popping out when exceptions and thus metaphor breakdowns occur. In his text, Stephenson touches on subjects such as how the command line is similar to a MGB sports car; why Disney would totally own Microsoft, if they were to move into the OS business; and how Linux is like an Egyptian taxi.
Enjoy!
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April 19th, 2007 at 15:01
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