1. date
2. unzip
3. touch
4. strip
5. finger
6. mount
7. gasp
8. yes
9. top
10. man
11. uptime
12. nice

Okay, so that’s more than 10. Am I missing any? Got any good command combos? [Thanks to Bethany for the core dump.]

Top 10 Sexy UNIX Commands

Caleb Herbert wanted to respond to this article found on Microsoft’s site: Compare Windows to UNIX. I’m publishing Caleb’s email in full, without edits – since I’m just a community mouthpiece, not a community editor:

Dear Chris,

I’m a Linux fanboy, and this comparison makes me mad.

I do know that *nix is out of date, but that’s sort of what I love about it. However, even though it is out of date, will *nix become obsolete? It’s built around an evolutionary development, so is it possible? If anyone wants to end Linux, it must be someone who migrates the best of Linux / BSD / Darwin, and makes a new ‘species’ of an OS that evolves from UNIX.

Plus, the new simplicity of a modular (and?) monolithic kernel make it wonderful – never have to configure or install anything, just uncomment or add one line to a text file and BAM! Your trackpad works with every feature being customized to your liking (no limitations, even possibly making it run a script).

I’ve grown to loving the UI that Linux and BSD provide (so long as everything works minimally without hacking) that I would hate to see it become obsolete when I grow up. I want to see it evolve and stay secure, while keeping the ability to stay very small. (The reason why I say ‘ability’ is because we still need 1,000,000 default drivers in the kernel, but when we install a system, we will need to have the easy-button that says ‘erase redundant drivers’).

I know I am being gullible about M$’s campaign, but with the case of Business and Getting things Done (T not used so as to not confuse with ‘GTD’), I think that they are right. Most people cannot do things very efficiently writing their school assignments in LaTeX or text-teletype{groff} and maintaining their websites’ contents with text-teletype{ vi } — oh, and also don’t forget to generate your images with emphasize{ only } postscript! Is UNIX out-of-date? Should I be worried about using a system that is ‘stuck in the times’? Eventually, the way UNIX works will become too much of a legacy method. I am frightened to face the thought that this is likely to happen in my lifetime, since computers have yet to change their UI implementations away from the 70s and early 80s. (Note: Don’t correct me, (English ScD.) Dr. Chris; the absence of apostrophes just makes the most logical sense, and I am more than willing to sacrifice that disgraceful lingual tradition!)

So, do you think this decade I will be taking up to learn UNIX be wasted? Has it had its time, and is overdue and “the poor old, weak grandpa?” Will it just evolve, and will standards stay Free?

Best Regards,
Caleb

P.S. Knowing that the answer will be null-and-a-half, I should probably post this to Geeks or somewhere else…. (An ellipsis plus a period; is this bad PUGS?) And I don’t *hate* MS Windose, but I really don’t feel passionate about using it personally… I just can’t play with it! PC-guy is an accurate personality for Windows: he just does *not* like to play! On the other hand, Mac and *nix have a bit of activity in them, unlike “PC.” Don’t count games as “playing;” games are just simple programs that a PC just does as “Okay, I’m doing your job now…”, but it doesn’t make ‘him’/it “stretch.” :-)

P.S. #2: Sorry for leaving two post scripts, and making one postscript with 2 ideas and subjects.

Comparing Windows to UNIX