Pirates of Silicon Valley

You never heard about Steve Jobs being a notoriously upfront guy and how he verbally abuses employees? Where else do you think they got the material they needed for the film?

mjmoonwalker, you're serious? I'm sure it wasn't 100% accurate as they made both Gates and Jobs look like terrible human beings. They really made Steve look bad, especially with the drugs and anger and neglecting his kid. I was just shocked after watching the movie. But then again, maybe that was the point.

So when he put his feet up on the desk and asked the guy "are you a virgin?" that was true? What is wrong with this man. I realize and acknowledge that you should be aggressive in business, look at Donald Trump.

EDITED because my original comment sounded really stupid.

i loved that movie. i dont think it was 100% accurate, although jobs was a very tough "ruler" he wasnt as bad as that. It was pretty accurate though, just a little too dramatized.

and is it just me or does Steve Jobs in that video look like the Mac guy in the Get a Mac ads?

Former drug user. Tonnes of people in the Valley at that time were probably similar.
LOL. No, only the hippies.

Not a bad flick, and pretty accurate on Jobs from what I have read.

What I didn't like was the very end where they tell you about the investment by MS. They make it sound as if MS bought Apple or perhaps even bailed them out, the former being untrue and the latter being inaccurate at best. And anyone who wants to see the MacWorld announcement about it that they showed just do a google search, the video is out there, and you will see how the movie REALLY ended.

They also make everyone sound really upset about the problem when people weren't yelling as much as the movie made it seem.

I want it!!!

well you can just take it

no, your not listeng to me! I WANT IT!!!

I was just shocked after watching it and wondered "why in the hell did I buy one of his products?"
I think it's time we break it to ya... Sports celebrities take steroid... Your movie beaus have plastic surgery... and Santa doesn't really exists, but Mom&Dad will do.

Uh...no? They just bought someone else's OS. I don't see why everyone hates Microsoft, but I can see why Mac fanboys do...they're the "enemy" haha. People still do drugs now, let alone then. He was hard on employees, sure for the right motivation, but with the wrong outcome...causing people to hate him and get into fights and such.

Well...good is subjective. I think his sideline coaching was a bit too much, and people did have a right to hate him given how abusive it is.

...The movie is based on true life events...

The low end Macs get bundled with a CD burner, DVD player, but you can upgrade to a DVD burner by paying a bit more.

...The movie is based on true life events...

If you watch the opening Credits it says Based on the book (or something similar) Fire in the Valley.

I haven't read it I forgot that there was a book involved, might just have to look for that one though.

Apple bought the basic idea for the GUI, XEROX had no intentions of distributing thier GUI, which was a lot different than apples. Microsoft blantantly copied apples GUI, and didnt pay for the rights to.
You can't say who's the good guy or bad guy in this, as they pretty much both ripped off of their "good neighbor Xerox".

Xerox's GUI wasn't all that different from Apple's or Microsoft's...

Nothing if it makes you a rich CEO like Steve Jobs.

It said on Wikipedia (sources cited) on the topic of accuracy, the following (read the bold to explain the xeorox situation):

* Steve Wozniak, on his personal website, woz.org [2] has commented on the film through a series of replies to emails from fans [3]. On the issue of accuracy, Wozniak states:

The personalities and incidents are accurate in the sense that they all occurred but they are often with the wrong parties (Bill Fernandez, Apple employee #4, was with me and the computer that burned up in 1970) and at the wrong dates (when John Sculley joined, he had to redirect attention from the Apple III, not the Mac, to the Apple II ) and places (Homebrew Computer Club was at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) ... the personalities were very accurately portrayed [4].

* During an 04 August 2006 interview with Studio 360, former Director of the Xerox PARC research center, John Seely Brown, was shown the clip of Pirates of Silicon Valley in which Bill Gates tells Steve Jobs, "You and I are both like guys who had this rich neighbor - Xerox - who left the door open all the time. And you go sneakin' in to steal a TV set." After viewing the clip, Brown stated that it was not entirely accurate as Steve Jobs was invited by PARC to view their technology in exchange for Apple shares [5].

* In an interview of director Martyn Burke located on the official TNT Pirates of Silicon Valley website, Burke states that he chose not to interview either Bill Gates or Steve Jobs when making the film:

I did not want to do an "authorized biography" on either Microsoft or Apple, so we made the decision going in that we would not talk or meet with them. With a team of Harvard researchers, I embarked on a seven-month research project that encompassed virtually everything we could find on the history of both companies, including old technical magazines from the '70s. I intended every scene to be based on actual events, including such seemingly fantastic moments as Bill Gates' bulldozer races in the middle of the night and Steve Jobs' bare feet going up on the board room table during an applicant's job interview. I have two or more sources that verify each scene. [6]

* According to his biography iWoz, Steve Wozniak tried quite hard to convince Hewlett-Packard to take his personal computer design, but HP refused anyway.

That was the Apple I, not the Macintosh with the GUI from Xerox.

Well that was from wikipedia, so if its wrong its perfectly editable. But the sources were cited. By the way, off topic I know...but if any serious Mac user could help me out with information regarding to a purchase I want to make of an iMac, that'd be great. For example what it comes with.

what is the movie about...im so lost...

what is the movie about...im so lost...
Or even reading the past few pages of posts? Mmm? Nowhere near 1500...

I'd still go with apple, esp. seeing this movie... This is how microsoft really started to succeed "taking" apple's GUI and UI, etc... or what i think...

7.O.1.
Sigh. They BOTH took from Xerox. There's no good guy bad guy...they're on the same ground.

Xerox gave Apple a look at the GUI in return for the right to purchase $150m of stock. Apple gave Microsoft a Macintosh because they wanted them to develop MS BASIC or some other form of MS software for it.

I mean, Steve Jobs is basically a marketing guy. He doesn't seem to be in on the technical aspect of a majority of the products Apple released/continues to release.

Bill Gates actually knows what goes into the software. Not just what looks good.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong on that, but that's just what I've observed.
True. Gates was a hands-on programmer in the early days and still describes himself as a Software Guy. Jobs however basically let others do the coding BUT he decides on the overall Look&Feel of the product, which is, for alot, every important indeed.

Movie OK, actors looked REALLY dorky and basically stopped right b4r Jobs left Apple. Lots of other things happened after that, NEXT, Pixar, iPod! The book Fire in The Valley covers other companies, not just Apple.

Has anyone read that book? Was it any good.
I always found it strange how Steve Jobs could be fired if he co-founded the company. That's just....weird.
Are there any great books to read about iPods or Steve Jobs (for example a book like Cult of iPod?)

I always found it strange how Steve Jobs could be fired if he co-founded the company. That's just....weird.Not at all. The best person to grow a garage operation into a medium-sized corporation isn't necessarily the best person to run that corporation or evolve it into a large corporation. Once the company goes public, its up to the board of directors to decide who's best for running the show.

I don't know, watch THIS... (http://youtube.com/watch?v=WxOp5mBY9IY&mode=related&search=)

The look on Gates face when he hears the boo's is priceless.

Its also funny how humbled Jobs sounds when he says that "the era of setting this up as a competitions between MS and Apple is over as far as I am concerned".

Wozniak was kinder than Steve in that he gave away a lot of shares to Apple employees whom he felt were unfairly compensated by the IPO in 1982.

He went on to found Wheel of Zeus and Acquicor Technologies. He also organized two US music festivals. He isn't as well off as Jobs but he's still rich.

He quit Apple and started teaching computers to students in Los Gatos. I'd assume he'd have a bit of shares...how else would he be able to buy enough Segways to play Segway Polo?
Actually, he's still officially employed by Apple, and always has been. I'm not sure if he still owns shares, but I'm guessing he'll still have a few.

I'd recommend taking a listen to Woz's keynote at HOPE 2004, it's a really interesting:

Part 1 (http://www.the-fifth-hope.org/mp3/woz-1.mp3)
Part 2 (http://www.the-fifth-hope.org/mp3/woz-2.mp3)

Pretty gutted I missed it, I was in NYC the week before, but couldn't make it that weekend. Woz and Kevin Mitnick's keynotes are both excellent.

TOM

How would one know if he in fact has mellow "a lot", if one is not around Steve? Personally knowing Steve one would be able to may a more accurate statement about his persona then just speculating, don't you think?
By your standard, we wouldn't have anything to talk about! Available press say, people around him have mentioned he's mellowed, alot, I dunno. But that's a fair assestment, having a family does that to anybody. But I wouldn't put my guard down for even a microsecond if I come into a position to negotiate with him for something.

I read a recent interview with someone who has written an autobiography for him, and the writer said he'd mellowed some...but not "a lot". The part I remember most vividly was discussion of Jobs' interest in Buddhism, and how he is still so hot-tempered and stubborn. The writer's response was something like, "yes, but just imagine what he'd be like without the Buddhism!"

I don't recall who the writer was. I don't personally have a huge interest in stubborn, hot-headed corporate bosses.

^...your plan has holes in it. Best get back to your drawing board.

Well one of my parents used to work for Jobs and says that he still ocassionally curses at employees and such, but nothing like physical abuse.
Yeah man, the physical stuff at the movie is just for entertaintment value.

Woz got stock? of course, u don't buy a plane (movie) on salary alone! Woz is an Apple Fellow, I dunn know what that exactly means, but sounds like LifeTime $ without having to show up for work everyday.

By Valley standards...

From what I know from living there...$250,000/year+?

^Can't argue with that logic. Working only when you want is the only way to go.

Steve yelling at employees must work, because look at the iPhone, the iPod, Appletv etc. He must be a hardass on them to deliver products such as those.
Yeah man, look at Paul Sr (American Choppers), he even yells at his own sons :D

And those bikes still turn out like c.rap.
Ha-ha. yeah man, I wouldn't buy one from them either.

How often do u see them, Oops, how come this doesn't fit? or Banging the thing until it goes in, or that Sr. says They don't tell us what to build, We give them what they need.

But good show though, I thought at first they were faking the shouting for the TV, but now I really think that's what they do! Sr. do keep them in line.