Triumph of the Nerds 1,2,3

Before I watched Triumph of the Nerds, I had no idea what this was going to be about. I found this very interesting to watch and I learned a lot. 

Triumph of the Nerds is a 1996 three hour American PBS documentary film that explores the development of the personal computer in the United States from WWII to 1995. It was written and hosted by Robert X. Cringely (Mark Stephens) and based on his 1992 book, Accidental Empires. The documentary is made up of numerous interviews with important people connected with the computer, and helped shaping what technology is today. 

Part 1 is a history lesson by Cringley in the birth of the personal computer and those who brought it to us.
Part 1 starts out by Cringely saying, "Hi, I'm Bob Cringely - and I'm here to tell you the incredible story of how personal computers took over the world. Why am I telling you this at a basketball game? Well, I like the game - but mainly it's because of that guy down there. His name is Paul Allen and everything you see here belongs to him -- the Portland Trailblazer's basketball team, their arena, even the dancers." 
I thought this was a great intro because it goes to show that technology and computers are part of our everyday life. He talks about people such as, Steve Jobs, Paul Allen, Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, Christine Comaford, Steve Ballmer, and Gordon Moore. These people are very significant in how they changed the culture of business, how they made history in the computer software world. 

Part 2 talks about IBM and how it was started by Tom Watson. It discusses how IBM had competitors such as Microsoft and Apple. It mentions how IBM did not buy Gate's OS. Part 2 ends by saying, "Eventually it because the OS and not the Hardware that drove the personal computer business and let Microsoft become one of the leaders of a one hundred billion dollar industry and IBM left in the dust."

Part 3 discusses the 1971 Xerox. It started in Palo Alto, Ca. at a place called PARC. The goal of PARC was to think of the future of computing and how to dominate the market. For years they developed and soon built a computer they called "Alto.", which cost them $10,000 to build and was never sold to the public. This computer was unique because it had a graphical user interface or GUI. One of the co-founders of Apple, Steve Jobs eventually took a tour of PARC and saw the Alto computer. It was after this viewing that he decided that a GUI on a computer was the way to go and the future of the personal computer and this inspired him to make a goal and create his envision of a computer. 

This viewing of the Triumph of the nerds really educated me on the history of computers and the people who influenced this industry. It gave me a better understanding of why technology is the way it is today. And without these people and creations where would we be today.