Mitchell Tremblay 100543324 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 seemed to always be weary of the big companies throughout the film, stating that IBM was the enemy. He was also truly worried about the plans for the original designs would fall into corporate hands. Unbeknownst to Steve, Bill Gates was his true enemy, creating the new operating system for IBM. The future CEO of Microsoft also told Steve that he wanted to join Apple and was in no way affiliated with IBM. “Now, we know that IBM has set up this place to complete head-on with Apple, and that you're gearing up to come out with a personal computer that will wipe them out.” –Bill Gates in Pirates of Silicon Valley.

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 was referring to the infusion of money that Microsoft fed Apple in the late 1990’s. On Forbes Magazine’s website, Arik Hesseldahl wrote a reference to the buyout of stock.

“In August, the two companies let lapse a five-year deal that required Microsoft to develop software for the Mac platform. It was part of a lifeline that Microsoft threw Apple during the dark days of 1997. Microsoft agreed to buy $150 million worth of Apple stock and pledged to continue to develop software for the Mac. Chief among them is Microsoft Office, the ubiquitous office productivity software that predominates on both the Windows and Mac platforms.” -http://www.forbes.com/2003/01/07/cx_ah_0107apple.html (10th paragraph)

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 was the nickname given to John T Draper, a friend of Steve Wozniak’s from Berkely. He was inspired by using a Captain Crunch cereal toy whistle to access Bell’s switching equipment. The plastic toy would create a 2600 Hz tone, which was the same as ATT, and resulted in free phone calls for whoever used it.

“Years ago, Cap'n Crunch cereal gave away a plastic whistle. Known as the Captain Crunch whistle, it makes a 2600 Hz sound. This proved to be the frequency used to sidestep the phone system's billing system back before digital phone switching (ESS) was implemented. People used Captain Crunch whistles to make free long distance phone calls.” http://www.jetcityorange.com/CapnCrunchWhistle/ (Jerry Whiting, jetcityorange.com)

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. Throughout the movie, Steve Jobs, referred to himself as a poet and lived a bohemian lifestyle. He often daydreamed about his past lives and attended musical ash-rams. There was also a scene in the movie where Steve took the drug acid and went on a spiritual journey. Steve said at one point, “You are putting poison into your body,” referring to the fast food diet of Steve Wozniak. He also went on to say, “It's not weird. It's pure,” in defence of his all-fruit diet. –Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999)

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. The blue box device was a small homemade device that allowed access to free phone calls. Jobs and Wozniak were seen in the film selling these out of their Volkswagen. Steve Jobs had the philosophy, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” He even put up pirate flags in the first apple office and motivated staff to be cut-throat in dedication.

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. One of Bill Gates’ favourite hobbies was playing poker with his friends. Steve Ballmer, a friend from Harvard once said, “"He'd play poker until 6 in the morning, then I'd run into him at breakfast and discuss applied mathematics." http://www.time.com/time/gates/cover3.html Time Magazine Article: “The Gates OS” online.

7. What was it about the Microsoft deal with IBM that led to Microsoft's phenomenol success? Support your answer with direct evidence from the film. Bill Gates and his small Microsoft team went into the IBM executive offices with an empty suitcase, signed a deal for an idea and walked out in search of what they had just sold. As Steve Ballmer said during a brief breaking of the fourth wall, “Here we were, this two-bit little outfit, telling IBM we had the answer to their problems. The DOS? The Disk Operating System? To make all those zillion IBM computers compute? We didn't remotely own anything like what Bill was selling them.” –Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999)

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. Steve and his top employees acted like technological vultures, swooping into Xerox to pick up the ideas of smaller companies. The computer mouse was placed in front of Xerox CEO’s and they laughed at the idea, calling in Steve Jobs to view the denied works. His own company had been in threat of having its plans stolen at the beginning of the movie when most of the rights of inventions were held by a corporation.

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 much rather work for the innovative yet vigilante style of Steve Jobs at Apple. His inventions have been sleek and smooth according to most of the public. He’s got the sense of play, as seen with his employee beach party. During the scene he throws Frisbees for workers to catch dashing about on waves.