South Park Online 777

The Pirates of Silicon Valley


Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999) is an unauthorized docudrama written and directed by Martyn Burke. Based on the book Fire in the Valley: The Making of a Personal Computer by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine. This film documents the rise of the personal computer through the rivalry between Apple Computer (Apple II, Apple Lisa and Apple Macintosh) and Microsoft (MITS Altair, DOS, IBM PC, and Windows).

The central story of the film begins in the early 70's, and ends in 1985, with a toast to the birthday of Steve Jobs, shortly before being fired from Apple Computer by teammate John Sculley.


Story Structure
Starting on the campus of the UCB (University of California, Berkeley) during the Free Speech Movement, the film juxtaposes the plight of friends Steve Jobs (Noah Wyle) and Steve Wozniak (Joey Slotnick), who form Apple Computer, and students of Harvard, Bill Gates (Anthony Michael Hall), Steve Ballmer (John Di Maggio) and the friend of Gates, Paul Allen (Josh Hopkins), who create Microsoft.

Gates, Jobs and Wozniak leave the university (Jobs was actually a student of Reed College for a short period, but this is not documented in the film; Wozniak then return to the UCB) to take part in the growth of the personal computer revolution. The film is told from the point of view of Wozniak and Ballmer.

Quotes from the movie


* We are here to make a point in the universe. Otherwise, why be here? We are creating a completely new knowledge, as an artist or a poet. This is how you have to think this. We are re-writing the history of human thought with what we are doing. - Steve Jobs (Noah Wyle), during the filming of the famous 1984 television commercial.
* You know, Steve was never like us, he always saw things differently. Even being in Berkeley, seeing something I just saw kilobytes or circuit boards, as he saw karma or the meaning of the universe. - Steve Wozniak (Joey Slotnick) describing Steve Jobs (Noah Wyle).
* We're better than you ... (Silence) have better products. - Steve Jobs (Noah Wyle) talking to Bill Gates (Anthony Michael Hall).
* Do not you see, Steve? It does not matter. - Gates response to the preceding sentence.