Tarek Kabbani 100 508 815 PIRATES OF SILICON VALLEY

1. Who did Steve Jobs think was the "enemy" and who was the real enemy? Support your answer with direct evidence from the film.

Steve Jobs thought the enemy was the large corporation IBM when it was his friend Bill Gates working against him behind his back. What with the sneaking around, secrecy, and the attempted leaking of information from Jobs himself, all point to the fact that Gates was trying to bleed Jobs out.

2. At the beginning of the film, Steve Jobs thanks Bill Gates for "standing with us", why? Support your answer with references to sources of information from the internet.

In a sense, since Bill was live via satellite at the MacWorld Expo in 1997, during Jobs' first Stevenote keynote address, to announce an alliance between Apple and Microsoft, he was there, but I first thought of Steve's thank you to Bill as a sarcastic means of offending Bill, but then after Steve Wozniak's character explains more thoroughly I now understand that Steve actually meant his thanks. I can imagine this was because of the integration, or partnership/ alliance between gates and Jobs that Jobs felt obligated to thank his friend, the big brother, the richest man in the world.

3. Who is Captain Crunch, what did he discover, and what was the frequency in Hertz of the device he used? Support your answer with references to sources of information from the internet.

Captain Crunch is an alias for a student in U.C. Berkeley, named John Draper that Jobs and Wozniak cam across, who discovered the 'Blue Box'. Based on a gift whistle found in a Captain Crunch cereal box (where John got his name) with the same frequency that the Blue Box uses to function, this frequency in Hertz is 2,600 Hz.

4. Steve Jobs considered himself to be spiritually enlightened. Considering his portrayal in the film, is that true? Support your answer with direct evidence from the film.

I believe this is true, from the scenes in the film of Jobs and his partners smoking cannabis, to eating LSD and experiencing the orchestrated open field, to the scenes of Jobs' character dancing along the tribal dance. I'd say he was in touch with his mind and thoughts, and kept speaking in such contexts that made Jobs seem like he was thinking outside the box.

5. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built "Blue Boxes". What is a "Blue Box" and how did making and selling "Blue Boxes" contravene Steve Jobs' views about intellectual property theft? Support your answer with direct evidence from the film.

A Blue Box is an electronic device that simulates a telephone operator's dialing console. It functions by replicating the tones used to switch long-distance calls and using them to route the user's own call, bypassing the normal switching mechanism. The blue box got its name because the first such device confiscated by Bell System security was in a blue plastic case.

6. Bill Gates quit Harvard before finishing his undergraduate degree in order to pursue his computer business but he did not know if he would be successful - he gambled. What in his personal history prepared him to be a gambler? Support your answer with references to sources of information from the internet.

Gates was an avid poker player, which means he was more of a risk taker and gambler with his choices in life, additionally his experience in Lakeside School, his preparatory school. In the 8th grade with the Computer Centre Corporation's (CCC) PDP-10 microcomputer systems, and then later to the CCC's offices and studied source code for various programs that ran on the system, including programs in FORTRAN, LISP, and machine language. The arrangement with CCC continued until 1970, when it went out of business. Based on this experience, I could imagine Gates would have the true willpower to want to strive for his interests as opposed to mathematics at Harvard.

7. What was it about the Microsoft deal with IBM that led to Microsoft's phenomenal success? Support your answer with direct evidence from the film.

In 1980, IBM was introducing their first microcomputer, built with the Intel 8088 microprocessor, and needed an operating system, that's where Gates comes in, the idea of the DOS (disk operated system) pitched to IBM was the big break for Microsoft.

8. Where did Apple get the ideas for the Lisa and Macintosh computers and was the use of those ideas ethical? Support your answer with direct evidence from the film and, additionally, from at least one source of information from the internet.

Apple got these ideas from the Xerox Alto, a computer which the Apple team viewed during a tour of Xerox PARC during the late 1970s, from the mouse peripheral input system to the entire skeletal GUI of the Mac as we know it. I believe these actions aren't ethical since it's basically theft, but I can understand as a striving entrepreneur how valuable theft of such information can turn out, as it as for Jobs.

9. Who would you rather work for: Bill Gates or Steve Jobs? Explain why and support your answer with direct evidence from the film.

As I type this text into this MacBook Pro, I say I'm a big apple fan, and an avid user of some of its products, but in terms of who to work for, I might have to say Bill Gates. Since I find he's more of a business oriented entrepreneur, looking at the bigger picture, and also the fact that he's made a few people billionaires and about 12,000 people millionaires simply adds to me wanting to work for Microsoft.

Steve Jobs seemed a little too harsh, overworking his employees and demanding so much perfection, even looking over some cited quotes of some employees of Apple, Jobs' means of management weren't too favoured.

10. What did you find interesting in the film PIRATES OF SILICON VALLEY? Explain/Discuss.

I found quite a few things interesting, I've been a technology addict for several years now and watching a film like this for the first time, with so much insight on such powerful and revolutionary people and companies simply blows me away.

From the peculiar fact that Steve Jobs was a hippie to the stories of all the sneaking around and theft of ideas and immense competition/ rivalry between the two entrepreneurs. It's awesome how such incredible, revolutionary and life changing creations can come from such obsessions between friends.

It makes me think of wanting to do something more with my life, but I think right after that it's all pretty much been done already, and I've pretty much accepted the fact that I'm just going to live my life as a regular, using the things the smarter people make.