How easy is it to reboot a specified list of Windows servers, without leaving your desk? Hard. Sure, you can get a third-party tool – probably even a free one – that’ll do it, but that’s the problem with Windows management – everything requires a tool of some kind. Why do you think Microsoft’s Resource Kits sold a bazillion copies? They contained all the tools you needed (or a bunch of them), that’s why. Why is www.SysInternals.com so popular that when it was down for a few days after MS bought it there were practically riots? Why, because it has the tools you need. And most of those, I should point out, are command-line tools, not GUI tools. The GUI just doesn’t cut it.
Anytime an administrator says, “oh, I like the GUI, I can go get third-party tools that do what I need” – well, I can’t help but think that administrator has a hell of a lot of free time on his or her hands, to go hunting for tools. It’s ultimately what’s wrong with a GUI: A GUI will only let you do what the GUI’s programmer envisioned you needing to do, and programmers frequently have no idea what administrators need.
That’s why command-lines are better: They’re infinitely more flexible. I would even go so far as to say any command-line, even Cmd.exe, is better than a GUI when it comes to hardcore administration. And you know I’m right, because I’m sure you’ve written a batch file or two in your time. No Unix administrator would debate the point, that’s for sure.
The problem with Cmd.exe, though, is that Microsoft really never bothered to expose a lot of administrative functions within it (see aforementioned popularity of Resource Kits and SysTools). So, basically, that leaves us with the MS GUI, the few MS command-line tools we get, or a world of seaching for third-party GUI and command-line tools. And this is acceptable? The miracle is that we, as IT pros, have lived with it for so long. It’s definitely why the Unix and Linux guys hurt themselves from laughing so hard when we use the term “manageability.”
Phrased another way: There’s no way to customize a GUI. It works the way it works. A command-line shell offers better customization – but Cmd.exe is a horrible shell because it’s a total second-class citizen when it comes to administrative functionality.
