It does to the examples you gave. You get better output quicker -- a neatly formatted PDF -- with CLI tools like LaTeX or troff (they work as a pipe of filters

It does to the examples you gave. You get better output quicker -- a neatly formatted PDF -- with CLI tools like LaTeX or troff (they work as a pipe of filters), than with a WYSIWYG like MS Word. You get more relevant data quicker with SQL querying a Data Warehouse than via some GUI front-end that only lets you use some opaque, pre-defined queries. GUI is meant to flatten the learning curve; CLI is meant to let you unleash power of tools you know well. GUI may shine when you do a task once in a blue moon, but CLI is the choice for frequent use. On the other hand, I've never seen any good CLI approach to browsing the web ;-)