1. At the beginning of the film, Steve Jobs thanks Bill Gates for “standing with us”, why? Support your answer(s) with specific information from the internet. I don’t know why Steve Jobs thanks Bill Gates for standing with us. I thought that with the merger of two small enterprises they had joined forces an outside threat, ie. IBM. The IBM as a company represented the censorship and government control exerted on budding capitalists in the early 80’s. 2. Who did Steve Jobs think was the “enemy” and who was the real enemy?
Why did Steve Jobs not understand who the real enemy was? Support your answer(s) with specific evidence from the film (describe the specific scene(s)). In the film Steve Jobs thought that IBM was the enemy, representing the ultra-corporate ‘big brother’ culture of the US military. Mr Jobs reflected the 60’s idealism and unconformist culture of the flower child generation in California. He took drugs, travelled to India for a spiritual experience and though of himself as a self made man. He pitted his vision of creating Apple computers Inc. as a business and as a (consumable) lifestyle against the bureaucracy of IBM. Consumed by his arrogance Mr. Jobs didn’t consider Bill Gates to be a threat. Open scene of the film, Steve Jobs shows the 1981 Apple commercial and referenced the `Welcome IBM. Seriously. ` Wall Street Journal ad. In them he proclaims Apple to be the leader of a new era ` increasing social capital by enhancing individual productivity`1; the birth of the personal computer age. It compares IBM, their major competitor to a mind controlled robot army unable of original thought.
In the Pirates flags scene in the film, when Microsoft visits Apple for a RD session, Steve thought he was too clever to be tricked or stolen from. He showed Bill the new graphic user interface, let him know that Xerox has pioneered the software, (and his theft of it) but never considered that anyone else could share his ambition to take the technology to the next level, like he did. 2 The Famous Welcome IBM, Seriously Apple Ad Digg. com. CLIFFosakaJAPAN, 2010. Web February 15, 2010. Pirates of Silicon Valley. Dir. Martyn Burke. Perf. Noah Wyle and Anthony Michael Hall.
TNT Original, 1999. DVD 3. Steve Jobs considered himself to be spiritually enlightened. What is spiritual enlightenment and, considering Steve Job’s behaviour portrayed in the film, was he enlightened? Support your answer(s) with specific evidence from the internet and the film (describe the specific scene(s)). Steve Jobs was a very shallow man; an a-typical example of his generation. By virtue of his behaviour Steve Jobs embodies the second dictionary definition of ‘the enlightenment. ’ In the film, Steve was drunk on the power of his human reasoning and innovations.
In the press conference scene when he was announcing John Sculley as CEO, he actively brainwashed his staff, investors and the media to believe that he was leading a political and even spiritual shift of values: ‘he was changing the world’. His duplicity could best be compared to “some scientists, who’ve garnered a sort of “deity complex” based on their scientific achievements, take their role to be akin to Plato’s “philosopher kings,” wise advisors who would tell citizens how to live. ”1 Yet the most convincing reason why Steve wasn’t a spiritually enlighten person was his desire for material rewards.
Morally Steve wasn’t interested in creating an even playing field where he would create an educated public to understand the reasoning needed to argue and critique his work. He defended the greedy, oppressive and financial power structures that gave him the influence he welded rather than enter into the prajna2 of Hinduism, meaning “the pure and unqualified knowledge’ of spiritual awareness that he could have sought. In the film his relationships with his girlfriend when she became pregnant and how he treated Steve Wozniak after Apple began to grow shows his core disrespect for people.
He acted consumed by his fame and uncaring about how he treated his long term relations. In the scene when he visited his daughter and past girlfriend to make sure that they didn’t receive financial showed his callus attitude and lack of trust in his fellow human being. 3 Enlightenment by definition of Dictionary. com is “1/ the state of being enlightened: to live in spiritual enlightenment 2/ the Enlightenment, a philosophical movement of the 18th century, characterized by belief in the power of human reason and by innovations in political, religious, and educational doctrine. The Famous Welcome IBM, Seriously Apple Ad Digg. com. CLIFFosakaJAPAN, 2010. Web February 15, 2010. Enlightment definition, Dictionary Reference . com, Web. February 15, 2010. Parker, Randall, “Arrogant Scientists And What Is A Rights-Possessing Being? ” http://www. futurepundit. com/archives/002411. html , October 21, 2004. Pirates of Silicon Valley. Dir. Martyn Burke. Perf. Noah Wyle and Anthony Michael Hall. TNT Original, 1999. DVD 4. What are Steve Jobs’ views about intellectual property theft and did his behaviour adhere to and contradict those views?
Support your answer(s) with specific evidence from the internet and the film (describe the specific scene(s)). Steve Jobs was against Intellectual Property theft but was not above stealing to advance his own agenda. In general Steve was not a very principled business man. During the acquisition of the Xerox graphic interface he justified to himself that he needed to steal the program to support the larger picture. Like a bully he took it because he could. Ethically he could have paid $50,000 like Microsoft to use the blueprint to his hardware system.
In the film when he met with the RD of Xerox, he didn’t offer a buy out or to hire the staff who had developed the software. He basically gained access to the information through he political alliances that he had forged by his grand-standing “Apple is the future“ speeches. The “Apple ripped off Xerox” fable is old and well spread and I believe fed the rivalry between Apple and Microsoft. 1 1 Pirates of Silicon Valley. Dir. Martyn Burke. Perf. Noah Wyle and Anthony Michael Hall. TNT Original, 1999. DVD 5. What was it bout the Microsoft deal with IBM that led to Microsoft’s phenomenal success? Support your answer with direct evidence from the internet and the film (describe the specific scene(s)). IBM like many large corporations of its time didn’t have the vision to understand the inception of the personal computer. Armed with that knowledge Microsoft was able to successfully negotiations with IBM in keeping control of their software licence. Basically Microsoft had to ensure that IBM considered their company as the only supplier of this specialized software.
In the film, Bill and his team had their decisive sales meeting with IBM on a software that they didn’t own, QDOS “Quick and Dirty Operating System” written by Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products. 1 After signing the IBM deal Microsoft bought the right for QDOS for $50,000 and wrote “Microsoft Disk Operating System” or MS-DOS based on their blueprints in six weeks time. Bill Gates marketing skills and pirate mentality won him the day. In the end it meant Bill was able to market MS DOS to different companies besides IBM and make a fortune. Bellis, Mary “Inventors of the Modern computer, the history of the MS-DOS operating system,” http://inventors. about. com/library/weekly/aa033099. htmm March 2005. Pirates of Silicon Valley. Dir. Martyn Burke. Perf. Noah Wyle and Anthony Michael Hall. TNT Original, 1999. DVD 6. What did you find interesting in the film? Explain/Discuss (describe the specific scene(s)). I found the humble beginnings of both men Steve Jobs and Bill Gates to be fascinating. They were both computer geeks who left school without a job prospect but with a clear vision for growth and advancement.
Overtime they became greedy power-brokers concern only with the social or financial capital they could win. They were seduced by power and then were unable to comprehend the cost to their lives, such as constant rivalry, broken relationships and a lack of trust based on their choices. In the film the contrast of Steve Wozniak choice to leave the computer industry and teach computers to children shows that his values were not superficial like Steve’s. Pirates of Silicon Valley. Dir. Martyn Burke. Perf. Noah Wyle and Anthony Michael Hall. TNT Original, 1999. DVD
