A phenomenological description of irreversible processes at a surface is used to investigate the stability of an interfacial pattern created by momentum transfer from a bulk phase to the interface. In the system originally studied by Linde, no mass transfer occurs but a laminar flow in one bulk phase transfers momentum to the interface through a slip/shear coefficient. The recent formulation by Bedeaux of “surface hydrodynamic” equations with discontinuities between adjoining bulk phases is invoked. The application of stability theory results in a relationship between the complex time constant β, the wave vector components kx and ky, and the phenomenological coefficients in the form of a third-order complex polynomial. This is solved by numerical methods demonstrating that the ky component is coupled to only stabilizing quantities while the kx component couples to the competing stabilizing and destabilizing parameters. The analysis indicates that a circulating, oscillating pattern should occur once the value of the velocity in the bulk phase exceeds a critical value. The wavelength of the spatial mode selected increases with the surface tension and decreases with an increase in the bulk—surface momentum transfer coefficient. The oscillatory frequency depends on the wavelength of the spatial mode and the physical parameters of the system. These results are consistent with the experimental observations of Linde. The ease with which this system is analyzed suggests the utility of a “surface hydrodynamics” approach to other surface problems.