Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Thanks for the memories!

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Non-existent. Microsoft didn't just bumble and cheat themselves to contracts, Apple didn't steal from Xerox PARC (they paid Xerox, Microsoft was there as well, btw), Mike Markkula didn't just drive past a garage and offered 250k, both Apple and Microsoft worked together from very early on (Apple licensed Microsoft Basic and sold it as Applesoft Basic, MS was early involved in the Mac to write applications), the reaction in 1997 was not nearly as hostile as depicted, the speech was different as well (you can see it on youtube...) etc. pp.As a movie it's far from great either, the script itself is lacking in finesse, the characters are caricatures.

Pirates Of Silicon Valley is a great TV movie about the computer age and its two visionaries namely: the late Steve Jobs and Bill Gates,two men who who made the world of technology what it is today;their struggles during college;the founding of their companies; and the ingenious actions they took to build up their global corporate empires.The film also shows how computers came about,its history and development.Aside from that,it tells the history of Apple Computer Corporation and Microsoft.Pirates was an adaptation of the book,Fire In The Valley.The story opens with the creation of the 1984 commercial for Apple Computer, which introduced the first Macintosh.Steve Jobs is speaking with director Ridley Scott, trying to convey his idea that "We're creating a completely new consciousness." Scott, however, is more concerned at the moment with the technical aspects of the commercial.Then,it flashes forward to 1997 as Jobs, who has returned to Apple, is announcing a new deal with Microsoft at the 1997 Macworld Expo. His partner, Steve Wozniak, is introduced as one of the two central narrators of the story. Wozniak notes to the audience the resemblance between "Big Brother" and the image of Bill Gates on the screen behind Jobs during this announcement. Asking how they "got from there to here," the film turns to flashbacks of his youth with Jobs, prior to the forming of Apple.The first flashback of the film takes place on the U.C. Berkeley campus during the period of the early seventies student movements. Jobs and Wozniak are shown caught on the campus during a riot between students and police. They flee and after finding safety, Jobs states to Wozniak, "Those guys think they're revolutionaries. They're not revolutionaries, we are." Wozniak then comments that "Steve was never like you or me. He always saw things differently. Even when I was in Berkeley, I would see something and just see kilobytes or circuit boards while he'd see karma or the meaning of the universe."Using a similar structure, the film next turns to a young Bill Gates at Harvard University, in the early 1970s, with classmate Steve Ballmer and Gates' high school friend Paul Allen. As with Wozniak in the earlier segment, Ballmer narrates Gates' story, particularly the moment when Gates discovers the existence of the MITS Altair (causing him to drop out of Harvard).Gates' and Allen's early work with MITS is juxtaposed against the involvement of Jobs and Wozniak with the Homebrew Computer Club,eventually leading to the development of the Apple I in 1976 with the help of angel investor Mike Markkula. The story follows the protagonists as they develop their technology and their businesses. At a San Francisco computer fair where the Apple II computer is introduced, Gates,attempts to introduce himself to Jobs, who snubs him.Then follows the consequent development of the IBM-PC with the help of Gates and Microsoft in 1981. Meanwhile, Apple has developed The Lisa and later, the Macintosh, computers which were inspired by the Xerox Alto. The main body of the film finally concludes with a birthday toast in 1985 to Steve Jobs shortly before he was fired by CEO John Sculley from Apple Computer.It also includes a brief epilogue, noting what happened afterward in the lives of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. The movie ends with Steve Jobs returning to Apple after its acquisition of NeXT Computer, and Bill Gates appearing live via satellite at a MacWorld Expo in 1997, during Jobs' first Stevenote keynote address, to announce an alliance between Apple and Microsoft.The movie has great acting especially by Noah Wyle who played the late Steve Jobs convincingly.The story was well written and the direction was not boring that you could watch it over and over again.I own the new DVD release version.I consider it one of my favorite movies considering I am Engineer in the computer industry.This is TV movie is not only for engineers and computer enthusiasts but people who want to know more about Gates and the late Steve Jobs.

An immensely captivating docu-drama that covers the rise of PC industry by focusing on the events that eventually led to the intense rivalry between Apple Inc. & Microsoft Corp.; the two companies that single-handedly spawned a revolution that went on to change the whole world, Pirates of Silicon Valley offers an insight into the lives of the genius founders of these two revolutionary firms and the differences in their operational methods.Spanning from 1971-1997 and narrated in non-chonological order, Pirates of Silicon Valley is a semi-biographical account of the very people who made the world of technology what it is today, starting with Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak who co-founded Apple Computers in a garage before it became a billion-dollar firm, then moves to show the birth of Microsoft and the rivalry between these two future empires that only helped the computer industry boom.Written & directed by Martyn Burke, Pirates of Silicon Valley begins with the production of the famous 1984 TV commercial, a watershed event in itself, and culminates with the 1997 Macworld Expo where Jobs, after having made his return to the company he co-founded, announces Apple's new alliance with Microsoft. Interspersed within this story are segments covering the life of Bill Gates, how Microsoft came into existence and its deal with IBM that began its lifelong feud with Apple.The production design team deserves kudos for the set pieces are so wonderfully detailed & refined that they almost qualify as exact replica for the most part, whether its Jobs' home or the garage in which Apple Computers was born or other stuff. A few depicted events are inaccurate with shifted timelines or details but they are mostly done to enhance the drama, which is nicely captured by its camera, while its non-linear narration keeps its 95 minutes of story interesting for the most part.Coming to the performances, it's the very reason why Pirates of Silicon Valley works so well for the contribution by its cast is immensely convincing and all of them are highly believable in their given roles. Absolutely nailing the personalities & looks of the characters they play, both Noah Wyle & Anthony Michael Hall leave a lasting impression in their respective roles of Steve Jobs & Bill Gates, while the supporting actors who play the characters of Steve Wozniak, Paul Allen, Steve Ballmer & others are no slouch either.But there is... One more thing! Pirates of Silicon Valley mostly focuses on Steve Jobs' life, his modus operandi & his relationships and is quite hard on him. I wish there was more of Bill Gates than what made it into the final print because his character arc has an interesting dimension as well, if not equally appealing. The only side of Bill Gates that we get to see is his ruthless business practice. And in all honesty, the film isn't kind to either of them and places more emphasis on their negative qualities than the talent & vision they possessed.On an overall scale, despite a few artistic license taken to make the drama more immersive, Pirates of Silicon Valley is an enjoyable, entertaining & enlightening TV feature film that tries to bring on screen the history of two companies which forever changed the way we used to think, work & communicate. After all, the very device you're reading this from either belongs to one of these two tech giants or is heavily influenced by their products. Having worked on Windows PC for the major part of my life before switching to Mac some 5 years ago (one of the best decisions I ever made), I'd been wanting to watch this film for a long time and now that I've seen it, the nerd in me is highly satisfied! Delightfully recommended.

This quite efficient docu-drama is on its way to become a cult movie for those who are interested in the history of hi-tech. Realized by the end of the 'bubble' i.e. the period when computers and networking companies seemed to develop endlessly and made of their nerd or hippies or both founders riches it succeeds to catch the attention by using up to the verge of confusion the same kind of techniques used when telling about the times of the hippies. It does not matter that much that the super-gifted engineers and the capitalists in jeans were very different kind of characters than the flower-power boys and gals, the trick works quite well. The film survived well the almost decade since its making because it has pace, because it focuses on the characters of the founders of Apple and Microsoft and tells well the story of their ascension and of their conflict and because that conflict was really an important step in the hitech saga and remains to a large extent actual until today. Some of the historical details and timeline may not be accurate, but this is after all not the most important thing in the genre, what is important is to catch the essence of the true story and to tell it well on screen. This happens here and works pretty well.