Pirates of Silicon Valley -- Have You Seen It?

[bobber205]

I got it as a xmas present and I just watched it last night.

I thought it was pretty entertaining, though I took everything with a grain of salt. 90 hour weeks?! Please.

Anyway. Anybody know anything about the movie or have comments about it? How much is actually true?

 

[mkrishnan]

I thought it was cute. That's about it. It does do a good job, I think, of capturing the spirit of that era. Wikipedia has some dialog on its accuracy....

 

[~Shard~]

Yeah, it was a good film, nothing special though. As for 90 hour weeks, I've worked 90 hour weeks before, what are you getting at?

 

[IJ Reilly]

I thought it was cute. That's about it. It does do a good job, I think, of capturing the spirit of that era. Wikipedia has some dialog on its accuracy....

These are only a couple of the accuracy issues in "Pirates." I haven't seen this film for many years, but I recall at the time I watched it noting that they got a lot of the Microsoft history wrong too. That's the problem with films like this -- the makers don't care about relating the actual events accurately, so eventually the fictions can become the truth.

 

[mkrishnan]

Actually, come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever gone as high as 90. Definitely in the 80s though.

 

[~Shard~]

These are only a couple of the accuracy issues in "Pirates." I haven't seen this film for many years, but I recall at the time I watched it noting that they got a lot of the Microsoft history wrong too. That's the problem with films like this -- the makers don't care about relating the actual events accurately, so eventually the fictions can become the truth.

Yep, very true - you have to take these types of productions with a grain of salt, as with any "documentary" (if I may use that term).

 

[~Shard~]

Pssh, your time in the porn industry doesn't count, Shard!

Why not? Damn you and your "rules"...

Actually, come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever gone as high as 90. Definitely in the 80s though.

It's not fun, trust me. Although it is worth it as long as the company is compensating you accordingly.

You have to be quicker on your edits than that my friend!

 

[clayj]

It's not fun, trust me. Although it is worth it as long as the company is compensating you accordingly.

They do.

Or at least they used to.

 

[~Shard~]

They do.

Or at least they used to.

Yeah, as was my case at the time. My current employer definitely wouldn't compensate me fairly for that type of work, however luckily I never need to (nor would regardless!) put in that type of effort in my current role. I'd do it again though somewhere else if the money was there.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Yep, very true - you have to take these types of productions with a grain of salt, as with any "documentary" (if I may use that term).

I think the preferred term is "docudrama" (usually heavy on the drama and light on the docu).

 

[beatsme]

Anthony Michael Hall, to my surprise, was really good in that. Noah Wyle struck me as a bit callow, though that may have been a function of his character.

Anyway, I thought it made Gates look like a pretty cool guy in relation to Jobs. But then, Jobs is more of an artistic kind of guy (as are many of us here, I imagine) and I think we can all pretty well vouch for the idea that an artistic temperament comes with a certain amount of arrogance.

 

[~Shard~]

I think the preferred term is "docudrama" (usually heavy on the drama and light on the docu).

That's the term I was looking for - thanks. And yes, light on the "docu" part.

 

[yg17]

No, I haven't seen it, it's somewhere in my Netflix queue though

 

[Sirin]

"We're better than you are! We make... better... stuff *looks away* "

 

[Cybix]

i think the movie is 'cool' and 'fun'... it's probably ideal for someone that doesnt know much about apple / MS and what happened back then, etc... despite maybe not being that accurate, you get the idea..

I'm gonna go watch it now!

 

[StealthRider]

Well, as long as its entertaining

I havn't seen it; never really been interested.

 

[beatsme]

on a somewhat unrelated note, if you liked Pirates of Silicon Valley, you should probably watch Takedown. It's about famed hacker Kevin Mitnick. Saw it in a network security class. Pretty good.

 

[IJ Reilly]

I don't know if this program can be rented or purchased anymore, but a very respectable history of Silicon Valley from the '70s though the early '90s is the PBS production "Triumph of the Nerds," which was based on Robert X. Cringely's book "Accidental Empires." This book can be recommended too. It's a very entertaining read, and a lot more accurate in terms of the history than any TV movie.

 

[Earendil]

on a somewhat unrelated note, if you liked Pirates of Silicon Valley, you should probably watch Takedown. It's about famed hacker Kevin Mitnick. Saw it in a network security class. Pretty good.

Interesting, I watching a movie about Kevin's take down that was called "Hackers 2", which was interesting as it had no relations to a movie called "Hackers", and didn't appear to have any reason for having the "2" in there.
I did enjoy Hackers2 though, so I'll have to look this up.

Edit:
Apparently Hackers2 was the USA stations name for TakeDown, and they are one in the same. Bummer, I got just a tiny bit excited about seeing another movie about Kevin Mitnick

 

[plinden]

I got it as a xmas present and I just watched it last night.

I thought it was pretty entertaining, though I took everything with a grain of salt. 90 hour weeks?! Please.

Anyway. Anybody know anything about the movie or have comments about it? How much is actually true?

Wozniak has said many of the events really happened albeit with different people involved, and the personalities are true.

As for 90 hour weeks ... yes, I've worked 90 hour weeks, and been rewarded in some cases with just a pat on the head, other times a promotion, and other times a large spot bonus.

 

[Felldownthewell]

Actually, come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever gone as high as 90. Definitely in the 80s though.

I'm legally limited to 40 a week

Anyway, we watched Pirates for our Digital Art final. It was pretty good, although it was obviously dramaticized, so I enjoyed it more as a fictional film and not as a history of either company.

 

[Mammoth]

Interesting, I watching a movie about Kevin's take down that was called "Hackers 2", which was interesting as it had no relations to a movie called "Hackers", and didn't appear to have any reason for having the "2" in there.
I did enjoy Hackers2 though, so I'll have to look this up.

Edit:
Apparently Hackers2 was the USA stations name for TakeDown, and they are one in the same. Bummer, I got just a tiny bit excited about seeing another movie about Kevin Mitnick

I quite like "Hackers," I have it on DVD.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Not sure about anyone else.... but

I really enjoyed watching this movie. I think it capture's the spirit of both Gates & Jobs pretty well really. Something about the actor that did Gates (I still think of him as "She kneed me in the nuts!!!" lol love Weird Science).

Wonder if those crazy hours actually happened.
Still nice to see some old employees that have retired from coding (but never stop doing it, lol) around at the major MWSF keynotes from time to time.