Re: Pirates of Silicon Valley

[cturley2@aol.com (Cturley2)]

"bedlam" <bedlam@dimensional.com> wrote this posted comment to which I reply:

"What do you guys think about the "docudrama" that TNT aired last night,
"Pirates of Silicon Valley"?

I've heard that Steve Jobs is a terrible boss to work for, but he was
portrayed as an egomaniacal psychotic on the show.  Bill Gates, on the other
hand, came off looking like the Saint of the Silicon Chip, if you ask me. Is
Ted Turner buddies with Bill Gates?  Is somebody afraid of the iMac, the best
selling computer right now?  What's going on with this?  I smell a private
agenda."

My reply...
The 'Pirates of Silicon Valley' was based on the events as Woz saw them.
Even the character that portrayed Woz in 'Pirates of Silicon Valley' seems
to have made that point clear.  Woz reviewed a preview of 'Pirates of Silicon
Valley' and stated that he thought the content as presented in it was mostly
correct as he had related it to the movies producer.

My personal view of Steve Jobs (whom I've never personally seen or met and
actually never care to either) is that he's exactly the type of person now as
he was then - portrayed in 'Pirates of Silicon Valley'.

Several points the movie related proved to me that Jobs is very much an
'ego maniacal psychotic' always was and most likely always will be.  Perhaps to
you - Bill Gates, came off looking like the Saint of the Silicon Chip - but,
not to me.  He came of to me looking like more of an 'ego maniacal psychotic' 
than even Jobs did!

The message that I got from the movie gave me the clear impression that both
Jobs and Gates are two of the most skilled, cold-hearted, cutthroat pirates
that have ever existed within the computer industry.  They seem to both be
opportunistic elitist of the highest degree tat would cut any persons throat to
obtain what THEY want, regardless of who gets hurt
in the process.

Two parts in the movie that really told me a great deal about Jobs was the part
in Jobs garage when he and Woz were discussing who was employee #1 at Apple. 
Jobs declared himself to be employee #1 at Apple, after Woz stated that he was
the #1 employee.  Woz said whatever, then Jobs expressing the desire to be the
FIRST ranked employee at Apple went on to say - OK...Woz your the #1 employee
at Apple and I'm #0 employee at Apple.

And, that's the way it went.  To this day, Woz is the #1 employee at Apple,
which seems to be just fine with Woz.  My conclusion:  Zero has no value and
one does.

As to this aspect of your post: "Is Ted Turner buddies with Bill Gates?  Is
somebody afraid of the iMac, the best selling computer right now?  What's going
on with this?  I smell a private agenda."   I don't know if Ted Turner is
buddies with Bill Gates or not.  And, I see nothing concerning that issue that
would relate to the movies contents.  Ted Turner didn't produce the movie or
have anything to do with the way it was related in content.  Ted Turner runs
TNT, the network channel that presented the movie.  

I wouldn't buy an iMac personally, as it's not the sort of a Mac I like.  Sure
it's cute, sure it's the best selling computer right now and it's VERY POPULAR
as such.  Is somebody afraid of the iMac?  Yes, I'm sure many, many people are
afraid of the iMac.  Namely all those concerned with out
doing the fantastic sales the iMac is presenting now.  But, I doubt that Bill
Gates or Ted Turner are afraid of the iMac.  After all Bill Gates invested 
150 million dollars in Apple Computer, which no doubt helped a great deal with
the cost of development with the iMac.  I also heard rumors that both Ted
Turner and Bill gates actually own an iMac too.  

I also had Woz tell me last year - that he'd never actually met Bill Gates. He
went on to related to me that he's seen him on a few past occasions but, never
actually met Bill Gates personally by any formal introduction or had any
conversations with Bill Gates.

In my conclusion from viewing the movie...I don't smell a private agenda,
other than perhaps a private agenda between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates
to mutually benefit both of their personal desires.

That's the way I saw it all.

Cheers,
Tom