Sunday, August 31, 2008
posted 10:01am
"Triumph of the Nerds"
Well I wasn't sure if I would even post this month, nothing has caught my eye, but then,
right at the end, I found:
Triumph of the Nerds.
Now back in the middle of June I picked up
Pirates of Silicon Valley
on DVD, it's a great movie about the struggle to create the personal computer, focusing
on the rivalry between Apple Computer and Microsoft; but after watching Triumph of the
Nerds I can see that it's inaccurate, I guess that's why it's called a docudrama. Triumph of
the Nerds is a PBS documentary about the history of the personal computer, told in three episodes
that are hosted by
Bob Cringely.
It covers everything from the Altair 8800 to Windows 95, since it was shot in 1996, and has a ton
of interviews with everybody from Ed Roberts to Bill Gates. There are also a lot old photos and
vintage footage that help fill in the visuals while people like Steve Wozniak, Paul Allen, or
Steve Jobs explains what was going on at the time. It really is the best documentary out there
about the early years of the personal computer, and if you're an enthusiast about this stuff,
you should get a copy for yourself.
- D