Tuesday, March 20, 2007

DVD-Pirates of Silicon Valley

I've been meaning to get around to this one forever. Pirates of Silicon Valley is a made-for-TV movie about the rise of Steve Jobs of Apple and Bill Gates of Microsoft. It is a very intriguing film about two very important people whose stories are still being played out today.

Basically, Steve Jobs is a creative but tyrannical genius who both cajoles and terrorizes his people into producing cutting edge products and technology. These traits would later end to his firing when people got tired of his shit. The guy is a real asshole. They say he has mellowed somewhat in this regard, but he reminds me a bit of a Che Guevara type.

Bill Gates is another story. The guy is a borderline autistic nerd. But he is a sneaky, cunning, devious nerd. Essentially, Gates beat Jobs because Gates was simply more ruthless. It is no coincidence that the Gates story begins with a poker game in which Billy Boy takes the pot.

So, what are we to take from this? Which business model makes more sense--innovation or ruthlessness? Ultimately, it comes down to consumer choice. Microsoft won because it met the needs and desires of a larger number of customers. My first experience with the Mac was back in high school working on the school newspaper. I was amazed at the graphical user interface, and I knew that system was the future. Then, Windows came out which I thought was inferior, but I quickly learned that Microsoft owns the world. I exclusively use PC's now though I might be persuaded to buy a Mac for multimedia work if I ever choose to go that way.

The whole story of Pirates is the battle between poets and nerds. We see this today with the current ads for Mac with the cool guy trading barbs with the 40-year-old virgin. Nerds make more money, but the poets get laid. Make of that what you will.

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