The Dilbert strip referenced in Neil Stephenson’s In The Beginning Was The Command Line:

Here's a Nickel, kid

Huge thanks to Mike Taylor for the original scan and to quickpost for the pointer.

There’s a lively discussion of the section titled, The Hole Hawg of Operating Systems, on reddit.

This strip ran on 06/24/1995 — more than 11 years ago. It is still timely and relevant, although for reasons different from 1995.

It is featured on the front of Advanced Programming in the UNIX® Environment (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series):

Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment

Stephenson actually mis-describes the strip in the essay:

(2) a copy of a Dilbert cartoon in which Dilbert, the long-suffering corporate software engineer, encounters a portly, bearded, hairy man of a certain age—a bit like Santa Claus, but darker, with a certain edge about him. Dilbert recognizes this man, based upon his appearance and affect, as a Unix hacker, and reacts with a certain mixture of nervousness, awe, and hostility. Dilbert jabs weakly at the disturbing interloper for a couple of frames; the Unix hacker listens with a kind of infuriating, beatific calm, then, in the last frame, reaches into his pocket. “Here’s a nickel, kid,” he says, “go buy yourself a real computer.”

It was not the Dilbert character but Wally that had the encounter with the Unix hacker. The hacker quotation is also inaccurate but perhaps better than the original.

Dilbert is by Scott Adams and runs daily on the web and in 2500 newspapers worldwide in 65 countries and 19 languages with over 150 million fans.

Comments

  1. The hacker quotation is also inaccurate but perhaps better than the original.

    I don’t agree with this. Stating (in the original strip) that Wally can buy himself “a better computer” for a nickle implies that Wally’s current computer is worth less than a nickle. Stephenson’s rewrite – “a real computer” for a nickle implies that a real computer (e.g. the UNIX hacker’s) can be bought for a nickle. So in my opinion, Stephenson’s rewrite completely ruins the subtle insult of the original strip. All I had to say… :)

    — Jeppe Utzon on Thursday, May 17, 2007 at 12:20 AM #

  2. It was a rip on the saying ‘here’s a nickle call someone who cares’. And given the fact that Linux systems can be downloaded off the internet for free these days, that nickle for an operating system (semantics be damned) is a bit more appropo.

    — Xeno on Friday, June 27, 2008 at 10:12 AM #

  3. for those who are visually impair since this is not “alted” —

    Picture 1 – computer holy wars, hold it right there, buddy!

    Picture 2 – Thatscruffy beard, those suspenders, that smug expression! Here’s a nickel kid, go get yourself a better computer.

    Picture 3 – You’re one of those condescending unix computer users.

    — anonymous on Friday, October 17, 2008 at 11:50 AM #

  4. It’s “nickel”, not “nickle”. Sheesh…UNIX users…

    — Anonymous Coward on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 06:31 AM #