From: "Jack Spencer JR." <eeville@dreamscape.com> 
To: "Charles T. Turley" <cturley@grin.net> 
Subject: Avast!
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 22:58:18 -0400
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I just finished watching Pirates of Silicon Valley. I taped it so I could watch it at my leisure. If I hadn't, I would always catch it in the same place, about 15-20 mins. before it ended :) 

As a movie, it's not bad. Typical tv movie fair. TV movies, for some reason look and feel smaller, more subdued than their big brothers. I never quite understood why.

Anyway, the main thrust of the movie is Steve Jobs, portrayed by Noah Wyle. It can be described as one man's search for himself, his place in the world and a map to where he's going all while in the midst of revolution. In the film, Jobs is portrayed as a visionary, constantly seeking the horizon. However, he is a man without roots, being adopted and therefore has now feeling of where he's been. No sense of tradition. 

All rather heavy-handed, but Jobs is the most fleshed out character. The seconded most fleshed out character is Jobs' arch nemesis, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, but he is not so much a character as a characture. Anthony Michael Hall as Gates is the stereotypical nerd as well as being hamily evil as he plots against Jobs & Apple.

The narritive is told by two persons close to the main characters, Steve Wozniak on the Jobs end and Steve Baller with Gates. This view gives it a more personal touch. Pity Woz & Baller didn't do more than say "Knock it off, Steve," or "You're crazy, Bill."

The technical aspect of the computer revolution that was going on is appropriately dumbed down. This is a film for the viewing public, not the tech-head. Most of the reality was glossed over, such as how the Apple II was shunned after a while, the Apple III or IIgs weren't even mentioned (although I did see a A3 on Woz's desk), that Lisa tanked and Jobs was pulled off the project and he started Macintosh to "out-Lisa" the Lisa. 

There were many bits of techno-trivia that were nice. Such as the Graphic User Interface was originated by Xerox, not Apple nor Microsoft. Hewlett Packard had first crack at the original Apple, but didn't think the average person would have a use for it and passed. The best, in my opinion, is the lengthy aside Baller had while Gates was pitching DOS to IBM, which was amazing since that moment was the moment one of the largest personal fortunes was made, made even more amazing since Microsoft had nothing. Gates was selling IBM smoke, and they bought it. He later had his lackey buy someone else's operating system for a song. The way our modern computer world has been shaped is incredible.

In the end, it is an interesting way to spend two hours. There have been better movies, but there have been worse movies, much worse. The important thing is that the movie is interesting, and may spark people to seek further information on the subject. That in itself is as much a miracle as the A2 was in the first place.


You can use this is whole or in parts in your newsletter if you want :) 

The discussion on CSAP continues, but it's gotten too techincal for me. Way over my head.

MY last comment there got completely ignored, which is that Apples best hope for ther future back then, while A2 was still going strong was to enter the PC clone market.

Power Apple ][, perhaps?

My thinking is that the PC clone market created a pure competion-based market which required innovation, low retail prices and compatability, esp. backwards compatability.

One of the main reasons Apple lost its user base is that it kept trying to push a non-compatable machine on it's Apple II users. These users mostly decided that if they're going to have to get a whole new system, it may as well be a PC which will always be compatable. Apple lost most of its loyal customers by refusing to support the Apple II. 

Had Apple realised that the Apple II was stronger than the Mac, and that no matter how strong it is now, the cancer-like PC market would eventually overtake them, they could have released an Apple II with the ability to emulate the PC.

This Apple IIpc would then stradle the line between two worlds, giving its users the best of both.

The problem, if the movie is any indication, was Steve Jobs who was too much of a visionary to try to improve or build on something that was working, but rather scrap it and start fresh, break new ground. 

I don't know, and I realize I'm talking to a Mac user as I say this, but Apple went from around 80-90% of the market to about 10-20%. Breaking new ground doesn't always sell, I guess.



Jack