Triumph of the Nerds

Impress your friends

It talks about how the multimillionaire computer began in the garage of college drop outs. They started it as a hobbie, but without knowing it was the first step that would revolutionize the world. I am amaze of the type of commitment they got into it. It was not just  a matter of luck that a bunch of indifferent people, they were the correct ingredients to make computers in the civilian world happen. College drop outs without a clear idea where they heading, but with thirst to do something. There were probably competent people able to do the job, but they were probably busy with their life and blind  to see the opportunities of their life. I find the this voyage of nerds similar to Colombus' voyages to the Americas, a voyages to the unknown who were able to sense an  opportunity and took the risk.

Ride the Bear

After the success of personal computing, IBM giants wanted a piece of the cake. IBM had the brilliantidea to assemble computers instead of building them. They look for Bill Gates to produce their OS and Intel for microprocessors. For a moment, they were dominating the market, but they failed to secure their product. Since it was assemble, everyone could copy their product. When people reverse engineer their IBM personal computer, they were able to sell cheaper since they did not have the amount of overhead IBM had. Even though IBM ran out of the personal computer business, Bill Gates and Intel were able to continue in the market since they were companies apart from IBM, and the ones who clon IBM pc were still getting their product of it.

Great Artists Steal

The episodes talks about the hundreds of names that have helped corporations like Apple and Microsoft and had not received credit for it. Jobs accepted that he has been using  the ideas of others and make it available. I do not really call jobs a thief, but someone who made something theoretical to practical. Many people can talk, but few can make things happen. Even though they were not his original ideas, he did no hurt or did something illegal to get them.