PIRATES OF SILICON VALLEY Assignment

Kimberly Smith 100551863 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 that the enemy was IBM, because at the time they were the super computer company. They made computes for businesses and not for regular people. This was a trend that Steve Jobs wanted to break, so he labeled them as the enemy. The real enemy however was Bill Gates and his small-unknown company Microsoft. Bill got Steve to trust him because he came across as not a threat to Apple’s dominance in the computer world. In time Steve’s trust began to grow for Bill so much that he gave him three new computers that were not on the market as yet, they were called Macintosh. Bill however had other motives from the beginning and finally was able to get what he wanted from Apple. When Bill released his newest project from Microsoft it had similar features like the Macintosh, but was better. After this launch Microsoft would be on top of the computer industry, whereas Apple would have an inferior product that would not get huge sales.

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. Steve Jobs thanks Bill Gates for “standing with us” because after the Lisa, Macintosh and other computer failures from Apple the company was at a huge loss. After changing the company’s CEO’s it looked like nothing could be done to save the company. From the massive loses taking place at Apple, they decided to rehire Steve Jobs. As soon as Steve was rehired he made drastic changes throughout the company. The biggest change he made was getting Microsoft to team up with Apple. Steve thanks Bill because he knows that Bill basically saved the company. By Bill investing in the company probably no one would invest in he kept it from going under. But not only did the money investment help, it was also the name that came with it Microsoft. Microsoft’s name would help Apple’s image more than money at the time would. http://www.apple-history.com/?page=history§ion=h1 http://www.geocities.com/franktau/History2.html

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 real name is John Draper. He discovered that the whistle that came in Captain Crunch cereal box’s had the same tone what AT&T used to provide long distance phone calls. The frequency from the whistle was 2600 Hz. From this he created “Blue Boxes” which recreated the tones used by AT&T so that he could make long distance phone calls worldwide for free. http://www.webcrunchers.com/crunch/stories/woz.html http://www.jetcityorange.com/CapnCrunchWhistle/

4. Steve Jobs considered himself to be spiritually enlightened. Considering his portrayal in the film, is this true? Support your answer with direct evidence from the film. Personally I do not think that Steve Jobs was spiritually enlightened. He had big goals that he wanted to achieve but feel short of achieving. To me he wanted to make changes in the computer world but he was greedy in wanting to control everything. He looked at the future and where he wanted Apple to be, but not at the whole picture. The whole picture would be where is Apple now, who are all the competitors and how can we beat them. One of the biggest mistakes he made was with his employees. He pushed them so much to come up with new ideas that some feared him, while others could hardly focus on work because of his long hours pushed on them. Meaning that no new ideas and projects worthwhile would be brought forward. Another mistake he made was with IBM. He was so driven to beat IBM that he never took notice of the new upcoming Microsoft Company. Microsoft came and stole Apple ideas right from under them and labeled them as their own. As Apple became powerful Steve got careless in the running of the company, which lead to his downfall. The people he hired eventually fired him.

5. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built "Blues 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” was used to make long distance calls for free. The box used the same tones as AT&T long distance would. Making and selling “Blue Boxes” did not contravene with Steve Jobs views on intellectual property theft. Steve thought that it’s been ok to make money from other people ideas and work. For example the “Blue Boxes” was made by Captain Crunch (John Draper) but Steve took his idea and mass-produced the boxes. As long as he got paid he didn’t have a problem with making money off of others, later on it would be a problem. When Bill Gates took Apple’s new computer ideas and labeled it as Microsoft’s. Steve became enraged that someone could come and take his work, label it as his own and make money. But Bill showed him that he couldn’t get mad if the same thing that Bill did, Steve did to Xerox.

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. I would say that Bill Gates got his gambling streak from his family. His family was well off, but they also held important positions in society. For example his great grand father was a mayor. From seeing this I would say that Bill knew that obtaining these high positions takes hard work and dedication but it’s always a gamble. You might give it your all but that doesn’t mean that you will get the position you want or achieve the goals you set. To be successful in life you have to gamble. http://www.wisegeek.com/who-is-bill-gates.htm http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Gates.Mirick.html http://www.soulcast.com/post/show/28068/Bill-Gates-Family-and-Early-Childhood

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. The deal that Microsoft made with IBM made them a phenomenal success because of Bill Gates. He knew that IBM wanted to wipe out Apple, so he proposed that this new operating system that he would be able to provide would surely beat them. At the time Microsoft claimed they had an operating system, in fact they didn’t even have one. Microsoft found and bought an operating system from a Seattle Computer Company just for 50,000 dollars. This made Microsoft successful because they arranged with IBM to license the software and to be able to sell it to other companies. Bill knew that computers soon would need software to work and everybody would need to buy his software. This was the opportunity he needed to make money and make Microsoft successful.

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 stole the ideas for the Lisa and Macintosh computers from Xerox. Steve was able to go into Xerox and get information on product ideas what the board members rejected from their research department. This was where he got the ideas for the Lisa to have a graphical user interface. The ideas for the Macintosh came from the Lisa since Apple split and had to two different sections working on different computers. The use for those ideas was not ethical because Steve Jobs knew that Xerox ideas were ahead of everyone, instead of encourage them with their ideas he stole them so that he could make his own profit from them. http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa051599.htm http://everything2.com/title/Apple%2520Lisa

9. Who would you rather work for: Bill Gates or Steve Jobs? Explain why and support your answer with direct evidence from the film. I would rather work for Bill Gates because at times he might be hard on his employees, but he still motivates them. His motivation helped to push his employees achieve the goals he set. I would love to work for someone who shows respect for his employees and the work that they do. I would also like to work for someone who is loyal like Bill Gates. He was loyal in keeping his employees that started the company with him, so that they could enjoy the wealth together. At the end Paul Allen was still with Microsoft when their new product came out that would wipe out Apple’s Macintosh.

10. What did you find interesting in the film PIRATES OF SILICON VALLEY? Explain/Discuss. What I found most interesting about the movie is that if you have a dream, you should give it your all to try and achieve it. All of the determination and hard work you put in, you might just get back. It’s a gamble what your taking but who knows your dream might change the world around you. For example Bill Gates wanted to change the computer industry. To make his dream a reality he had to start off at the bottom and work his way at the top. The biggest obstacle he faced were getting people listen to his ideas. At one point he went to Steve Jobs and tried to talk to him about his ideas, but was turned away. In the end Bill Gates came out on top of the computer world. Another interesting fact about this movie is that, it can be used to inspire people to be determined to achieve their dreams.