that chris dixon analogy is really interesting ... can you provide a link if you get a chance?
EDIT: nevermind it was only a tweet :)
EDIT: nevermind it was only a tweet :)
1. Take a command that would run over files on a filesystem, and instead run it over pages on the Web.
Examples: find | xargs grep -i -> web search engines (Google, etc.). talk -> IRC / ICQ. Creating timestamped text files in a per-user directory -> blogging.
2. Take a very powerful & useful UNIX command that's complex to use correctly (and possibly damaging if you screw it up), and make it easy, user-friendly and risk-free.
Examples: rsync -> Dropbox. awk -> spreadsheets (Visicalc, MS Excel).
I'm currently racking my brains for other commands that seemed useful but complex to me in my Linux sysadmin youth. :)
tail -10000 httpd.log | cut -d ' ' -f 1 | sort | uniq -c | sort -n | tail
That sort of thing.