Pirates of Silicon Valley: Not Another Reaction

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to discredit nor damage the reputation of the names mentioned here (the characters of the pirates of Silicon Valley). This is my personal opinion, for educational purposes and nothing more.

The movie, Pirates of Silicon Valley, tells us about the historically inaccurate story of Apple and Microsoft as pioneers of the Computer and Computer Operating System Industry. The men behind the revolution on the digital computing world were; Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak for Apple Computer and Bill Gates for Microsoft Inc.

I will not delve lavishly on the story and history of the movie because I might be also giving inaccurate view, and also most of us are already familiar with the story of the two rivals of the digital world.

But, to give a short view on the story, the two companies led by the men mentioned, were the visionaries who saw that the digital computer, which was big as buildings, and at that time were only used by big companies, military and the government. The men at Apple saw that the digital computers could be made into smaller size and could be used by the common people. This was the greatest step taken by Steve Jobs and his partner to invent the first prototype of Apple.

On the other hand, Bill Gates of Microsoft sold something which was not yet in existence at the time to the leading company of the digital world, IBM. It was the first Operating System of the PC-personal computer, to be later called the DOS – Disk Operating System, which is at present, what we call the MS-DOS. The software created by an unknown somebody, bought by Microsoft, and later sensationalized by their market strategies. The revolution of the digital computing world accelerates at the creation of the GUI- Graphical User Interface, and the invention of computer peripherals such as the mouse, etc.

Enough of the story, and going to the reaction, what I see is that the power of imagination and innovation is greatly working at the time of Steve Jobs, that I think is the key to their success. Of course, they have an opportunity at hand which escalates their working prowess to achieve something that is not yet believed by the other leaders of the digital world. This was their edge the technical side of the computer world.

But the working standard and pressure made by Jobs to his people were more like of a slavedriver which was his negative side. He has the urge to achieve but his eagerness was just too much that he even made the competition within his company, a competition and pressure too much to handle by his own people. This was his downfall.

On the other hand, Bill Gates, as I see, is not the “computer man” as many people believe he is, but a “market man”. I think he has less knowledge on the machine and software, but a carries a very powerful convincing charisma that made him, as he is, a brilliant strategist. This was his edge, and it was his strategies that made him the wealthiest man. The world domination strategy of the capitalists and if I may say the corporate giants; they create the hype, the fear, the need, and make money out of it.

The lives of the men of the story are somewhat inspiring but, I am not a fan of their lives, but I believe we can learn from their innovations and strategies.

The discussion of this tale could be never ending, but it will be better to discuss it on class than broadcast all my opinions over the web.

Thank you for reading.


Zen