whoopdido

Can anybody give me some suggestions for the best, most accurate and most entertaining documentaries about the computer industry? Pirates of Silicon Valley is one of my favorite movies and I'm fascinated by the whole rise of Microsoft/Apple/Gates/Jobs saga. I'm mainly interested in that aspect but would also be interested in other technology stories as well.

I learned about "Triumph of the Nerds" from this forum and half-heartedly tried to find it but haven't had any luck yet. I assume Amazon has it. But anyway, that documentary was made in 1996. I'd actually be more interested in something newer...like at least after Apple released the IPod because that changed the entire dynamic of the Microsoft/Apple rivalry.

So any suggestions of "post IPod" technology documentaries?

jfoobar

Yes, it was made in 1996 and it shows. But it is also very good in documenting what happened up to 1996, which includes the whole "rise of Microsoft/Apple/Gates/Jobs saga" that you mentioned above. It is definitely worth watching. Something made on the same subject today would almost certainly not be able to get the same candid interview access with key players that they did 15 years ago. Plus, a few of those people are dead now.

Amazon does indeed have it. It is still in print.

GuessWho

Tron (1982) is a documentary on the interaction between users and programs.

Jay G.

It's hard to think of recent documentaries about the computer industry.

There's "Code Rush", the 2000 documentary on the making of Mozilla:
http://waxy.org/2009/07/code_rush_in...ative_commons/

There's also a 2006 documentary about Google:
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/google-documentary/

And Triumph of the Nerds:
http://www.cosmolearning.com/documen...-the-computer/

There's also a Discovery documentary from 2006 called The iPod Revolution, that can be found easily on the web.

For something more esoteric, I recently watched this documentary about Text Adventure games:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRhbcDzbGSU

Some other documentaries to browse through:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...out_technology
http://www.geek-documentaries.com/co...documentaries/
http://www.cosmolearning.com/compute...ies?sort=views

Burnt Thru

Not a documentary but I enjoyed "Pirates of Silicon Valley" about Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and the start of personal computing.

whoopdido

So would you say that Triumph of the Nerds is still probably the best doc available on the subject?

jfoobar

Read the OP again.

jfoobar

In covering the era covering the birth through adolescence of the personal computing revolution, yes. As Jay mentioned, there aren't really all that many to choose from.

Another one you might enjoy somewhat is an episode of PBS Frontline called "Digital Nation", but that is more about social changes inherent to the recent proliferation of Internet-enabled handheld gadgets, etc. You can watch it for free online.

Drexl

Try Revolution OS, about Linux (a rival of sorts to both MS and Apple) and the free software movement. Although it's dated now since it was released in 2001, the concepts are still relevant today, especially if you're a Windows or Mac user that also uses Open Office or some other open-source software.

dugan

http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/

Norm de Plume

Startup.com (2001) is a very good one.

edstein

King of Kong

Jon2

There is also Nerds 2.0.1 (1998), a sequel of sorts to Triumph of the Nerds. It was available on VHS, but I don't know if it's available on DVD.

Spottedfeather

If you can find it somewhere (I know I've seen it somewhere), there's a really great one about old arcades records and the history of arcades called Chasing Ghosts.

Fist of Doom

Thanks for the link. That was really interesting.

dvdjunkie32

The History Channel show, Modern Marvels, had a piece on 80s and 90s tech. Not as long or in depth as a feature length documentary, but it covered the computer history nicely.

davidh777

E-Dreams is about the dot-com bubble burst, but not really about the computer industry

whoopdido

Thanks for all the suggestions. A lot of these sound worthwhile. I already ordered Triumph of the Nerds from Amazon so we'll see how that one goes.

Nick Danger

When you watch Triumph of the Nerds, you get to see the inside of the refrigerator of a good friend of mine. I suppose that they were in Albuquerque for the Bill Gates story, and had time to visit a local startup company.

AVP77

Thanks, those are some great links!

Boba Fett

Hackers. A docudrama about a former hacker known as Zero Cool, who hacked Wall Street as kid. The film chronicles his reintegration into society and how he skirts parole violations by creating the online identity, Crash Override.

Hiro11

I have "Triumph of the Nerds" on DVD. I paid about $60 for it maybe 7 years ago, it's a lot cheaper now (but still expensive for a full-frame DVD). Yes it's 15 years old, but it's about the early days of the computer industry so the story isn't going to change. Also, as others have mentioned, Cringely gets good interviews with all of the key players... everyone from the guy who originally wrote DOS and sold it to Microsoft for $50K to the guys who invented the spreadsheet (Visicalc) to all of the heavy hitters like Jobs, Gates, Ellison... even the woman who ran Xerox PARC. I think it's a really great show. Cringely is sarcastic in a good natured way and the story is told in a clear and compelling manner. And, it's a fascinating story. It's a DVD I definitely recommend, one of my favorite documentaries.

AVP77

I've been going through some of these, and so far BBS: The Documentary is the best of them. Just amazing sort of stuff that you would never think would make it onto a documentary series. I was only slightly into BBS's near the end of the era, but I just had to watch it all once I started. Amazing number of people that the director talked to, and though they're some real eccentric characters, you never feel like the work is laughing at them.

E. Honda

I love TOTN. I've watched it countless times. I love the part in the Steve Jobs interview where he is talking about his competitiors and how "they made some truly terrible products".

dugan

Here's an upcoming one:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...tory-of-mojang