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>In article <fgoodwin-2706961337310001@tri.sbc.com>, fgoodwin@tri.sbc.com
>(Fred Goodwin) wrote:
>
>> Given the thesis of the show (how nerdy techno-geeks hacked together a PC
>> and made millions w/o really trying), and given that Apple and Microsoft
>> are the only major players left standing from those days (also IBM, albeit
>> to a much lesser degree w.r.t. PCs), it is not surprising Commodore was
>> overlooked.
>>
>> BTW: I too have never used an Amiga, but from what I've read, itsa pretty
>> good machine.
>>
>> In article <4qs89g$3uh@cronkite.amoco.com>, "Gary P. Hagen"
>> <gphagen@amoco.com> wrote:
>>
>> > I, too, saw "Triumph of the Nerds". ("Revenge of..." was a movie.) I
>> > thought it was very good and described very well the how and why of the
>> > PC evolution. I was a little surprized that Commodore computers and the
>> > Amiga in particular were not even mentioned in passing (unless I missed
>> > it). Commodore deserves a pretty big piece of computer history from the
>> > old PET to the Amiga to the present Amiga spanning, what, more than 20
>> > years?
>> >
>> > I felt this in spite of the fact that I am not and never have been an
>> > Amiga user.
>>
> ---
There was nothing in there about the Amiga or Commodore at all. In
fact, when I saw it, PBS was airing commercials for the video tape
series (and soliciting donations, which they always do).. During one
of those commercials, the person who made that program was asked that
question by someone on the telephone - what about the Amiga? He said
something like, "they were a small player in the industry.." He
didn't want to piss off Amiga users by saying that, but obviously
there was a lot of history to cover, even in three hours, and some
stuff just had to be excluded. He also mentioned that the show was
targeted for the U.S., and that the Amiga, while making strides in
Europe, the Amiga went almost nowhere in the U.S..
Either way, I thought that show was excellent. It was the best
computer documentary I'd ever seen. But there was a weird thing
about it - it went in perfect chronological (historical) order from
the Altair computer in the mid 1970's until the launch of Windows
'95, which took about two hours. Then it stopped and went backward
all the way to the late 1970's to talk about the graphical user
interface and the developments at Xerox PARC. I think the GUI
discussion could probably have been blended into the overall story.
It seemed as if the person who made the show realized after it was
done that he'd failed to cover the entire GUI revolution, so he added
it onto the end..
Other people complained that the show had too much stuff about
"dealmaking in the industry," "business strategy," marketing, and
"nerd culture," while spending little time discussing how the
personal computer revolutionized the way people work and live.. I
don't agree with that, and I think it was an excellent, well-rounded
program.