> This is Unix revisionism (...) they certainly didn't rebuild Unix to fit on a Mac
I think you're reading too much into this.
MPW, which was made and used by Apple developers and sold by Apple, featured a command line interface, which the Mac otherwise didn't have. They implemented this because a command line interface is a powerful tool when working with software development and most developers know this and will eventually want one. That's what Stephenson is saying here.
The Lisa Workshop, which was used for software development on the Lisa, was also a text-based interface.
> Unix was far too large and unwieldy for microcomputer hardware of the time
No it wasn't. Xenix was released for the Lisa in 1984.
I wrote the CodeWarrior tooling integration for MPW and presented the finished work to the CEO of MetroWerks :-) Given the engineering quality on both sides of that wide divide, I felt some honor at the time -- I was paid but not that much.
I think you're reading too much into this.
MPW, which was made and used by Apple developers and sold by Apple, featured a command line interface, which the Mac otherwise didn't have. They implemented this because a command line interface is a powerful tool when working with software development and most developers know this and will eventually want one. That's what Stephenson is saying here.
The Lisa Workshop, which was used for software development on the Lisa, was also a text-based interface.
> Unix was far too large and unwieldy for microcomputer hardware of the time
No it wasn't. Xenix was released for the Lisa in 1984.