Why are people so afraid of the command line?

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libadwaita ΘΔ (she/they) 21 hours ago

Whenever I talk to people about command-line utilities that can accomplish a task they want done, they sometimes have this sort-of visceral reaction to me mentioning a command-line utility at all. It usually takes some coaching for them to even try it.

I get that people might not have great memories of command line interfaces from MS-DOS, but MS-DOS's implementation was primitive even for the time when compared to other Unix systems of that time period, let alone modern *nix systems like GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, or macOS. Even with Windows, PowerShell is a huge improvement over MS-DOS.

Just like how graphical interfaces have improved from the likes of Windows 1.0-3.1, CDE, and early macOS, command line interfaces have too basically as drastically as graphical interfaces have.

People seem to want to avoid the terminal like the plague even when an alternative graphical implementation is harder to use, has less features, is less efficient, and sucks up more resources. People seem to see it as a negative for some reason, when at the end of the day it's just a tool that is often better for certain things.

Why do people hate the terminal so much? Why do people seem to love graphical apps when they are often inferior in every respect?

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Showing 1-15 of 16 comments

Fuki 21 hours ago

I like using the command line. What I don't like is using CLI programs. They're repulsive, because I hate having to copy every destination into precise text instead of, y'know, just using a GUI to properly locate it

GoodGollyGosh 21 hours ago

Idk. Why does Google block VPN's and why do online services deny usage of crypto currencies? Why isn't lying about your personal information more regularly monitored and punished online? I'm thinking people should be legally required to attach some identifiable personal information to accounts across all sites.

Why is a tool commonly associated with strictly problem behavior so widely looked down on as a taboo? It's not the tool it's the person.

Last edited by GoodGollyGosh; 21 hours ago

Devsman 21 hours ago

I dunno, some people just don't wanna deal with it and that's ok. I wouldn't be able to function without it, myself, but not everyone has the same goals using a PC as I do. I'm confident most people just have one for the browser and maybe Office or a music player.

Senor Eppeb Beppers 21 hours ago

I'm afraid of the immense power and responsibility that comes with commands.

Originally posted by GoodGollyGosh:
I'm thinking people should be legally required to attach some identifiable personal information to accounts across all sites.

this is a terrible idea. You are essentially asking for zero privacy and asking for everyone to be doxxed. why not give the police state even more ridiculous power??

Last edited by Senor Eppeb Beppers; 21 hours ago

ホットボーイ 21 hours ago

Codey code, hackery hacker hacking the mainframe.....

Same reason why some people are afraid to touch computers in general, they don't understand what anything is or what it does.

Fact is, most who work on a computer all day, every day know NOTHING about them.

Last edited by ホットボーイ; 21 hours ago

Realigo Actual 21 hours ago

If you piss it off it will bite you. They bite! They bite people!

GoodGollyGosh 21 hours ago

Originally posted by Senor Eppeb Beppers:
I'm afraid of the immense power and responsibility that comes with commands.

Originally posted by GoodGollyGosh:
I'm thinking people should be legally required to attach some identifiable personal information to accounts across all sites.
this is a terrible idea. You are essentially asking for zero privacy and asking for everyone to be doxxed. why not give the police state even more ridiculous power??

It's not if they don't make it public like Steam. Your credit card public on your Steam profile?

Last edited by GoodGollyGosh; 21 hours ago

Boblin the Goblin 21 hours ago

Originally posted by GoodGollyGosh:
Originally posted by Senor Eppeb Beppers:
I'm afraid of the immense power and responsibility that comes with commands.

this is a terrible idea. You are essentially asking for zero privacy and asking for everyone to be doxxed. why not give the police state even more ridiculous power??
It's not if they don't make it public like Steam.

You mean like Discord did until it all got leaked?

Last edited by Boblin the Goblin; 21 hours ago

Ice Robertson 20 hours ago

Why are people so afraid of the command line?

I don't think it's fear, Just a bit of a pain remembering the commands.

I've forgotten a lot of MS-DOS commands.

Fuki 20 hours ago

Originally posted by Ice Robertson:
Why are people so afraid of the command line?

I don't think it's fear, Just a bit of a pain remembering the commands.

I've forgotten a lot of MS-DOS commands.

This...

#10

Chaosolous 19 hours ago

The terminal doesn't scare me, I just don't know why I'd want to use it over the GUI.

I've yet to encounter anything that I do on the daily that requires it. Plus, I can't be bothered to remember so many commands.

Maybe once I start screwing around with servers I'll feel different.

Sometimes when I'm playing a game with nothing else open, I'll CTRL + ALT + T to bring up the terminal to open a web browser or something, but that's kind of a niche issue.

Last edited by Chaosolous; 19 hours ago

#11

Ulfrinn 19 hours ago

I first started using Linux in 2006, off and on, still using Windows for gaming until about 4 years ago, been using it exclusively since. Even got rid of the NTFS partitions. But... command lines? They're good for some things, but it's 2025, people should probably put UIs on their applications, package them as AppImages or Flatpaks, and be done with it.

#12

Ulfrinn 19 hours ago

Originally posted by Ice Robertson:
Why are people so afraid of the command line?

I don't think it's fear, Just a bit of a pain remembering the commands.

I've forgotten a lot of MS-DOS commands.

Yeah, this is a big one. If I want to disconnect a Bluetooth device for example, it's much easier to click the Bluetooth icon in the taskbar, find the device, and click disconnect, than trying to remember all the commands for something like bluetoothctl, in which you need to remember the command just to get a list of devices just so you can plug it into the command you have to remember to actually remove it.

#13

~Ren~ 19 hours ago

Originally posted by libadwaita ΘΔ (she/they):
Whenever I talk to people about command-line utilities that can accomplish a task they want done, they sometimes have this sort-of visceral reaction to me mentioning a command-line utility at all. It usually takes some coaching for them to even try it.

I get that people might not have great memories of command line interfaces from MS-DOS, but MS-DOS's implementation was primitive even for the time when compared to other Unix systems of that time period, let alone modern *nix systems like GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, or macOS. Even with Windows, PowerShell is a huge improvement over MS-DOS.

Just like how graphical interfaces have improved from the likes of Windows 1.0-3.1, CDE, and early macOS, command line interfaces have too basically as drastically as graphical interfaces have.

People seem to want to avoid the terminal like the plague even when an alternative graphical implementation is harder to use, has less features, is less efficient, and sucks up more resources. People seem to see it as a negative for some reason, when at the end of the day it's just a tool that is often better for certain things.

Why do people hate the terminal so much? Why do people seem to love graphical apps when they are often inferior in every respect?

I don't think people are afraid of the command line, it's the learning required to learn the commands, not all commands will be needed, but the more a person knows the less problems they will have when using them.

Honestly, I think it's easier for people to click a picture than remember everything else.

I taught myself Amiga DOS, at the time, basic commands using a CLI, I couldn't even begin to remember half the commands that I used to use on a regular basis now.

#14

OoOoOoooOOoOoorgle 18 hours ago

I know how to do a fair amount with a CLI...but I almost never need to. Even then, for maybe 90% of rare but feasible maintenance or troubleshooting tasks, official support channels tend to have prewritten batch fixes these days.

I don't see much reason to instruct someone how to manually do something they're unfamiliar with, instead of just sending them to a relevant support channel or stack exchange or something.

There's generally precious little need to directly interact with a terminal, even for those stepping into "enthusiast" territory.

Many of the things I learned to do via command line (like hardware and filesystem setup/auditing) can nowadays be accomplished with similar efficiency via some common tool with a GUI.

I don't think people fear it so much as they consider it unnecessary, and frankly they would be correct most of the time.

#15

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Date Posted: 22 Oct @ 8:39pm

Posts: 16

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