"Scanning through some of the Unix entries on Wikipedia, I came across a fascinating essay written ten years ago by Neal Stephenson, the real award-winning science fiction author behind the pen name Stephen Bury. It's titled "In the Beginning was the Command Line," but in addition to its core message it is a concise sociological assessment of the state of the Microsoft-Apple-Linux balance in that epoch.
"In Stephenson’s signature prose -- a rich mix of humor, scholarship, and insight -- he zeroes in on the cultural forces which, even more powerfully than technical merit and aggressive advertising, have created the relative market share of the Three Great Systems."
