I don't want you to think of this as just a film...
...some process of converting electrons and magnetic impulses...
...into shapes and figures and sounds.
No. Listen to me.
We're here to make a dent in the universe.
Otherwise, why even be here?
We're creating a completely new consciousness...
...like an artist or a poet.
That's how you have to think of this.
We're rewriting the history of human thought with what we're doing.
Right. Well, Steven, at the moment I'm more worried...
...about getting light on the actress. You know what I mean?
Simon. Excuse me a second.
- Michelle. - Yeah?
Michelle, walk... Yes, walk towards lens slowly.
Like this?
Okay. Right. Right.
I always wondered what it must have been like for Steve.
I mean, ever since we were kids, everything he ever did...
...was somewhere between a religious experience and some sort of crusade.
Like with this commercial.
It was practically a legend from the time Ridley Scott filmed it.
Like the book, 1984, with all the downtrodden masses...
... and that one huge spark of rebellion...
... against the evil Big Brother who ran everything.
Go, go, go.
Smoke it up, please.
And you three. That's right, you'll come with me.
The rest of you stay in the back.
- is a more powerful weapon than any fleet or army on Earth.
We are one people with one will.
One resolve. One cause.
Our enemies shall talk themselves to death...
... and we will bury them with their own confusion.
We shall prevail.
And then 13 years later...
... Steve has to stand up on that stage in Boston.
Man, that was...
That was weird.
The era...
...of competition between us is over.
Thank you, Bill.
Thank you for standing with us.
The world's a better place because of it.
Microsoft is gonna ruin Apple. You can't trust them.
I know.
I realize that this news may be shocking to some of you.
I mean, Steve talking to Bill Gates...
... who's staring down like he's Big Brother, and he was.
For years, Steve almost went crazy over what Bill was doing to him...
... and now he's up there on that stage, in front of the world...
... telling everybody he's practically the Second Coming.
I mean, how do you get from there to here?
There was a disturbance on the campus...
... of the University of California at Berkeley.
The Santa Barbara campus reported a small-scale riot as well.
- The demonstrators said they were... - More than 400 students...
... have taken part in the demonstration.
In the morning, police began launching tear-gas grenades to break up the crowd.
Student leaders are anxious to meet with university officials...
... to express their views on Vietnam.
- What the hell are we doing here? - Let's get out of here.
Stay back. Hold it. Hold it there. Get back.
- Don't drop the box! - I'm not!
Come on.
You okay?
Those guys think they're revolutionaries.
- They're not. We are. - We are?
You know, Steve was never like you or me.
He always saw things differently. Even then when I was in Berkeley...
... I'd see something and just see kilobytes or circuit boards...
... while he'd see karma or the meaning of the universe.
Steve and I found this weird guy who was a hero around Berkeley...
... all because he found a way to beat the system.
This guy was called Captain Crunch...
...because he figured out this little whistle...
...that you found in boxes of Cap'n Crunch cereal...
...had the same tones as AT&T's long-distance equipment.
So you got free phone calls anywhere in the world...
... with this thing I built called the blue box.
And then we tested it out by calling the pope.
- You talk to him. - No, no, no.
They're putting you through to the pope?
I totally figured it out, man.
I figured it out. I know what it's about. You know what it's about?
It's about power.
Right on, man.
It's like those weird countries...
...where the army guys overthrow the president.
The first thing that they take over...
...are the ways people communicate, you know, radio, TV, newspapers.
Far-out, man.
Information is power.
I kept building the boxes, and Steve kept selling them...
... until one day, we almost got busted by some cops...
... who, thank God, didn't even know what a blue box was.
You might wanna try a haircut, boys.
So I started trying to build something that wasn't gonna get us in trouble.
- That's not a blue box. - It's a computer.
Woz, we need blue boxes, not computers.
- I got a reporter from Mercury News coming. - What for?
My mom phoned, told them I was building a computer, and they wanna do a story.
Woz, give me a break.
Hey, let me ask you something, seriously. Look at me.
Do you wanna get stuck here the rest of your life in this hellhole?
Look, this is where I grew up, okay? It's not a hellhole. Shoot.
I know your newspaper will find Steve's computer fascinating.
He's so ingenious. He built it all from spare parts.
Steven, the reporter is...
Hi. It caught fire.
My first chance at fame, and the computer catches fire.
Sorry.
When I was still at Berkeley...
... I kept making weird electronic gadgets...
... that were basically just jokes.
But, hey, you know, jokes are important.
The problem back then was me and Steve and his girlfriend...
... were pretty much broke.
So we ended up doing some pretty nutty things just to make money.
I know where we can get a job.
- Saw it on the bulletin board there. - What kind of job?
I don't know. It seems sort of like show business.
Dressing up as Alice in Wonderland and stuff for a bunch of kids?
But, you know, Steve wasn't exactly cut out for that stuff.
Maybe in a past life...
...I was a poet or an artist.
You know, maybe you talk about past lives and all that stuff...
...because, well, you don't know who you are.
What the hell are you talking about? I don't know who I am?
Well, you don't. I mean, you told me...
I don't wanna talk about it with you or anyone else.
I'm just trying to help.
It wasn't like Steve and I lost touch with each other...
...but he was definitely in places I wasn't...
...like some ashram in India...
...and communes up in Oregon where they picked apples all day.
It was pretty much of a journey for Steve.
The kind that's as much on the inside as on the outside.
I mean, he definitely must have been to weird places.
See the new Playmate? Miss October?
Hey, man, Miss August is way better.
Boobs out to here.
Honest to God, Ballmer. You have no culture.
Yeah, right. Like you go around reading Plato.
You're the only guy I know...
...who could make furniture out of Playboys, for God sakes.
Look, you got enough to make a chair.
You don't have to worry about them moving...
...because they're stuck together. - Get out.
- They're all stuck together. - Sometimes back then...
... I could've throttled Bill Gates.
The guy could turn any human situation into a poker game.
Forget about classes. Poker.
The fact that the world might end tonight? No problem, poker.
Or we're finally deciphering the meaning of life.
More poker.
And winning. The guy'd have a hairball if he'd lost...
... which wasn't often, let me tell you.
- Full house. - Oh, man.
Hey, Bill.
Our rooms were like a casino.
Actually, a messy casino.
And Bill slept wherever he fell down.
Bill, the revolution's starting without us.
Bill and Paul Allen had known each other since they were kids.
If the word "passion" entered into their lives...
... it was for one thing: Computers.
Especially this one made by some guy in Albuquerque of all places.
What is this, porn for engineers?
Oh, jeez, the Altair.
Am I missing something?
I mean, Miss October, I can understand, but what is this?
This is better than Miss October.
This is a computer.
- Oh, God. - The article says...
...that they need someone to figure out a language for it.
Right now it just sits there and blinks.
Whoever talks to this Ed Roberts has gotta go to Albuquerque to see him.
You should go because you look better for that stuff than I do.
- I do not. - You both look terrible.
- Just get used to it. - What are we supposed to do?
It's simple. You call him and say you're Paul.
And then Paul goes to Albuquerque and says he's Paul.
So, what are you gonna say?
Hi, Mr. Ed Roberts, please.
This is Paul Allen, calling from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
It's our job to find out what this guy doesn't know that he needs...
...but does need and make sure he knows he does need it...
...and that we're the only ones to give him the answer.
What?
- Mr. Roberts? - Yes, sir, Mr. Allen.
I tell you, I believe that we've got one hot product here.
The reason I can speak that way is because I've taken over 50 calls...
...from people wanting to come to work with us on this Altair project.
So here's the deal.
I snuck two women into my room.
And they're naked.
I mean, like, really naked.
You know, like, gorgeous naked.
So don't say I never did anything for you...
...because they're waiting for you right now.
Drop dead, Ballmer.
Oh, and I told them...
...that you were writing a computer language...
...and right away, they start moaning for it.
"Oh, computer languages.
Oh, Fortran.
Oh, Fortran. "
Will you cut it out, Steve.
Excuse me, I'm just trying to save you guys from...
...wasting your entire Harvard reading week...
...over this Traf-O-Data simulator...
...while everyone else is out getting drunk or laid.
- Paul, are those parts binary? - I give up. I give up.
I give up. I give up.
Oh, duck, Bill.
Oh, you know, Bill, I think you gotta come up with a better pickup line.
Asking her what her SAT score is is definitely not gonna do it.
I forgot to write a loader.
That's not an improvement, Bill.
No, no. I just realized something. Paul's on his way to Albuquerque.
I forgot to write the loader that connects the computer to the Teletype.
And if he starts that machine, and it can't read the tape, we're dead.
Unless he did it on the plane, I'm finished.
- It's something I just realized. - I hope so.
If this Albuquerque thing had worked, I was gonna quit Harvard.
Are you crazy?
I gotta be a doctor or something.
Gynecologist, maybe.
- Come on. - I'm flying.
Yeah, you're flying.
- Here we go. - Ballmer.
You're the only guy I know who pays the strippers...
...to put their clothes on.
Come on, drunkie.
Okay.
Hey, Bill...
...it's either the clothes or you, but something...
...definitely needs to be hosed down.
- Sorry we failed. - Come on.
- Good night. - Sorry we failed.
Bill, Bill, Bill.
It's an Altair.
They gave it to us as a gift.
We blew them away.
Woz, do we have to have mice?
Come on, I like mice. This is Irving.
Hey, man, you are putting poison into your body.
Hey, hey, come on. Give me those.
- That's french fries, man. - That's what I mean.
French fries, all-American food. Come on.
I can't eat like you do.
Eating fruit all the time. That's weird.
It's not weird. It's pure. Makes the soul pure.
Oh, wait, wait. You gotta listen to this. I got a great one today.
Did you hear about the drunk who came staggering out of the subway...
... and said, "Man, I got lost in some guy's basement.
You should've seen the set of trains he had"?
- the Bay Area Dial-a-Joke Line, making your day a barrel of laughs.
I got a new book of Polish jokes.
Man, it'll keep me going for years.
- Why? - Why?
It makes people laugh.
I got people phoning in every day just to hear my latest joke.
It makes their day better.
Are you sure this thing's gonna work?
- Lf it doesn't catch fire. - Don't even joke.
I like jokes.
Jokes make me feel good.
You know, I hired a private detective today.
I wanna find my mother.
My real mother.
You never talk about that stuff with me.
That part about being adopted and all.
Guy says he can probably find her.
Why do you always get freaked out when Arlene asks about it?
Arlene? Arlene's got her own problems.
My parents don't want her in the house. She phones me a million times a day.
At least I'm working on my stuff.
Feel better?
Now, Steve, tell the others what you're feeling.
Like...
- Like it's gone. - What is?
The anger.
Like the anger's gone.
It's gone.
Back then, our big thrill was going to this thing they called the Homebrew Club.
It was where guys spent all their spare time...
... trying to get access to computers owned by the local corporations.
And people would go there and show the stuff they just built.
Except most of it didn't really work all that well.
- Read in the Popular Electronics issue about a year ago...
...about the new Altair 8800.
I was nervous that day we walked in with my homemade computer...
... but I got a charge out of it. All those guys...
... coming over and wanting to talk to me.
The schematics we have...
- What is this thing? - Check it out.
The first computer you're ever gonna see.
What's the screen for?
I was never good at talking to people in those days...
... but Steve, he was amazing.
Alexander Graham Bell when he heard his first ring, that's as revolutionary as this is.
He's talking about the Altair? I never had a problem till I tried to use it.
All of a sudden we found out what we wanted to do with our lives.
- It was all we ever wanted. - To 30.
Here is the first personal computer that you're gonna wanna buy.
Man, 50! We sold 50.
IBM is gonna be loading in their pants.
I don't even think IBM knows who we are.
Good. This is guerrilla warfare.
- They're the enemy. - They are?
I used to think maybe Steve was born obsessed with wiping out IBM.
And in a way, you could see why.
I mean, in those days, as far as we were concerned...
...IBM was practically like the Pentagon.
Here were a bunch of guys who dressed exactly the same...
... and sang company songs.
I mean, we were these scruffy crazies...
... messing around with computer stuff the IBM guys thought was, like, toys.
But what did they know?
- Where's your VW? - Sold it.
1350 bucks. We're on our way.
- Steve. - What?
- What's the problem? - I don't know if I can build these.
Hey, Woz, I assume we're speaking the same language, right?
Dan, Elizabeth, I'm not speaking Swahili, am I?
I'm here to inform you our universe is unfolding...
But I still don't think I can build them.
I work for Hewlett-Packard sometimes.
- Yeah, and? - My dad pointed it out...
...they get first chance in anything I invent.
- What? - I can't help it.
It's on the paper I signed.
Damn it, Woz! We get our shot, our destiny...
...and now we gotta turn it all over to these businessmen?
Steve. It is Steve, isn't it?
Yeah. Steve, you say that this gadget of yours...
...is for ordinary people.
What on earth would ordinary people want with computers?
What?
They hated it.
Whenever Steve went to a bank to get a loan...
...it was like they were Eskimos, and we had a refrigerator to sell them.
Okay, so Steve didn't look like a business guy. But who did?
Business guys and bankers thought you'd just barfed on their shoes...
... if you tried to interest them in computers for ordinary people.
I mean, go figure.
Where's your beard?
In the bathroom. Shaved it off.
Well, how come?
Because banks don't like beards.
So we called ourselves Apple...
...and started making those little computers.
Me, Steve and his friends Elizabeth and Dan.
All of us sweating away in Steve's parents' garage.
It's like sometimes not knowing how crazy something is...
...is a good thing.
You're just goofing around...
...until someone like Mike shows up and says, "Wow. "
- Steve Jobs? - Jobs.
Oh, right. I'm sorry. Mike Markula.
- Hey, Mike. How you doing? - I'm well.
The man who put intelligence into Intel.
- Yeah... - No smoking in here.
Oh, I'm sorry about that. Yeah.
- Valentine said you might call. - Yeah.
- Welcome to Apple Computers. - Thank you. Here it is, huh?
I was looking for a venture opportunity like this.
What kind of venture money are we talking about, Mike?
We start with about a quarter million dollars and see what happens.
Excuse me?
Quarter million dollars. You must be Steve Wozniak.
- Yeah. - Mike Markula.
A quarter million dollars into this?
- Yep. - What's the catch?
- No catch, just business. - That's the catch...
...because this ain't just business.
This is practically spiritual.
This is about overthrowing dead culture.
- Dead gods. - Okay, look.
You guys wanna be operating out of a garage, that's fine with me.
But this is a ground-zero operation here.
Steve Wozniak's employee number one. You're number two.
Wait a minute.
I'm employee number one.
- Woz? - Doesn't matter to me.
- I'm employee number one. - I'm not saying anything.
- I wasn't implying anything. - Then I'll be zero.
- Woz, you can be number one. - I'll be zero. Okay?
Even though things were changing like crazy...
... venture capitalists and bankers and all that...
... some things still stayed the same, especially with Steve.
- I don't want it, Steve. - It'll make you nice.
Woz, you and me.
This is your mother telling you to drop this beautiful acid...
Your mother wouldn't approve either.
- Get that away from me. "Man. " - Man, come on.
I'd be careful.
Baby, it's you and me. Take a little trip?
- No, thanks, Steve. - Come on.
- Steve, no. - What's the matter with you guys?
It's like living with a bunch of squares and stiffs.
More for me.
Oh, I'm standing. I'm standing in front of something.
It's a field of wheat.
Oh, and I hear classical music playing. Do you hear it?
I'm conducting classical music!
Everything's moving with the wind.
Everything's moving just the way I want it to.
Everything.
Steve.
Hey...
...how am I gonna get home?
- It's not bad when there's no wind. - Yeah?
What is that?
Bring down a pallet with six more.
- Oh, man. - What?
I was just thinking about Harvard. It'll pass.
Hey, Paul.
Right on schedule. How you doing?
- Good to see you. - Hi, Ed.
So...
...are you...? Are you Bill?
Are you Ed?
Well, I'll be damned.
Signing bonus?
I've never given a signing bonus in all my life.
You know, Ed, in our other contracts, we always get a signing bonus.
- Other contracts? - Yeah, our other contracts.
Well, I don't know.
I don't know.
Okay.
- Two thousand. - Four thousand.
- What? - Of course.
Next, Ed, this business of a $ 15 royalty...
...for BASIC sold in every 4K Altair, it's just not acceptable.
Let me tell you something, boy. This ain't the way I do business.
And I especially don't like being dictated to by some little...
Ed, Ed, this is not about dictating.
You see, this is about reality.
The reality is that your machine is brilliant, but it needs our language.
And without it, you know, it's just a tin box that lights up.
So let's double our royalty from $ 15 to $30 a copy.
So back then I get postcards from these guys.
"Wish you were here," and all that. Yeah, right, Albuquerque.
Bill and Paul were living in this crummy motel...
... acting like they had a clue about being in the computer business.
- Eureka. - What?
I created a program that can play blackjack.
Chris, you've been here two days, and you're into blackjack?
Yeah, so?
So you got work to do.
Oh, God, no.
Not Frank Sinatra. Not "My Way. "
Not again. Spare us.
So, Paul, I'm putting in $909, and you're in for 606...
...and we're keeping the Microsoft name.
You know how you told Ed that we're leasing whole office buildings?
What if he finds out our corporate headquarters...
...are in that roach motel with two student employees?
You think they're hookers?
Either that or motel inspectors.
I saw that one going in and out of the motel room...
...about a dozen times yesterday.
Oh, baby.
- I quit Harvard for this? - You wanted glamour.
- You got glamour. - Come on, baby.
Quit bitching or else go get us that pizza.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, baby, come on. Yes!
Rise and shine. Wakey wakey. Your 9:30's here.
You left your MasterCard in the restaurant again yesterday.
That's the third time this month. The hotel in Dallas called and said...
...you left your suit in the room when you checked out.
Hertz called back and said they will never rent you a car again.
Two more speeding citations in the mail and wash your hair.
No, comb your hair, wash it later and change your shirt.
It's over there.
We're here for our 9:30 with your president, Mr. Gates.
Mr...
...Gates?
Hello?
Oh, I forgot to tell you. Paul left a message. He said to tell you...
...if you get thrown in jail again tonight, you're on your own.
You have to find somebody else to bail you out.
Okay?
- Jeez, Bill, isn't this Paul's car? - You know, I figured it out.
Exercise is bad for your health.
You see, if you take a normal pulse rate, 70 per minute...
...times the average life span, which is 75 years...
- Too fast, Bill. Please. - Let's see, that's...
...70 times 60 minutes, times 24 hours, times 365 days.
- Come on, please. - That's 37 million heartbeats...
...times 75 years.
Slow down.
Hey, Chris. Take a look.
Bill.
No way, man.
Bill.
The keys are in it.
I don't know if this is such a good idea, Bill.
Can you get off that thing? Come on.
I think you steer with the pedals and these levers.
No, Bill. Come on. Please.
- Okay, don't worry about it. - Yeah, right.
On your mark.
Get set.
Go.
You're going down.
No way, man.
Microsoft? Nobody I knew ever heard of Microsoft...
... or Bill Gates. I mean, they were nobodies.
But then we were all nobodies, which was perfect for us...
...because all the respectable, straight-arrow guys...
...were busy doing what they always do, which is be respectable...
... which meant the rest of us could run around acting like crazies...
... which is what we did best.
I miss those days.
A bulldozer?
Who's this Apple Computer?
You hit my car with a bulldozer, Bill?
I'm sorry.
We went looking for someone who had the kind of software we needed.
The only place we found was this dinky little company in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
It says Apple wants a contract for $21,000 to license BASIC.
Do you know what this means, Paul?
Yeah, yeah. It means that we're desperate for business.
We're nearly bankrupt, and even worse, we're in Albuquerque.
I just got this car, Bill. I don't believe you.
- A damn bulldozer? - I'm sorry.
I think that this means there's something really going on out there in California.
- Nine forty-five. - A.M. Or P.M.?
Opens in 15 minutes.
I'm so tired I can't see straight.
What if they find out we've only made three of these computers...
...and we're acting like we got an assembly line full of the things?
- What then? - Hey, Woz. No sleeping in the booth, Woz.
You're cluttering up the joint.
Steve, all of a sudden we're working harder than our fathers...
...who we laughed at for how hard they worked.
- I don't get it. - Come on. Still gotta change.
Change what?
Doors will open in 15 minutes.
Oh, my God.
- Steve. - What?
- No.
- Like I have to have a mustache? - A suit. You actually bought a suit.
Two minutes to 10.
- Well, you think anyone will show up? - How the hell should I know that?
Of course they're gonna show up. I don't know. Maybe.
Is my tie okay?
There it is.
Unbelievable. It was practically like being a rock star or something.
People swarming all over you.
Hordes of them coming to see this amazing machine...
... with 62 chips and ICs that make all these colors.
Hard plastic, molded casing. You've never seen this.
- 65.02 and up. - No, we got them beat.
And when the guys from Microsoft showed up...
... how were we to know who they were? Them standing there...
... looking at an empty Altair booth on one side and us on the other.
- I mean, who would you choose? - Hi, how are you?
- Hi. - Steve.
- How you doing? - I'm Bill Gates.
- Yeah, hi. - Chairman of Microsoft.
- Nice to see you. We had a box... - Microsoft, we design...
Yeah, good to see you.
- Hey, Steve. Over here. - Hi, John.
Excuse me, excuse me.
No, wait, come here. Come here.
Maybe he just didn't hear you or something.
Yeah, maybe.
For the first time in my life, people are coming to me, instead of me going to them.
Man, this is insanely great.
I'm telling you, it was a weird time.
People were going nuts over the Apple II. I couldn't keep up with anything.
The company was expanding so fast I didn't know who half the new people were.
And Steve had a lot of people, you know, older people...
... start pay attention to him, which was amazing.
And me too, sort of. People even knew who I was.
- Hi. - Should have been fun...
... but with all the good stuff, bad stuff came too.
- Steve. - What?
Oh, jeez. Not again.
What? What? What?
What are you...? What are you talking about, it's not your child?
How do I even know if this baby's mine?
- You know. Damn you, you know. - How do I know that?
Steve, I'm two months pregnant. Who else have I been with?
Look, go do whatever it is you wanna do. You wanna play mommy? Fine.
- But the kid's not mine. - It is. It is.
You bastard!
God.
What did they say?
Hey, Steve. Take a look at this.
Carl's got that parity on that BASIC...
You guys are not being paid to be a bunch of clowns!
Or maybe you are. Maybe that's the problem around here.
You guys are supposed to be writing programs.
Steve, we were just doing...
I need people with talent. I need artists!
What the hell are you morons but a bunch of clock-punching losers? Huh, tell me?
And here is another letter of recommendation.
Well, Mr. Brewster, we've looked at your application...
...and I see a lot of mainframe experience here.
Six years. Actually...
Six and a half.
Steve? I don't know if you've met Steve Jobs.
Yes. No. It's good to meet you.
Right.
You were in marketing, correct?
That was before the programming. Yeah.
I took night-school courses at San Jos� State.
You look like an IBM type.
Well...
...no. But I did have a chance in college to be interviewed by them...
...and they liked me. They flew me out to their headquarters Back East.
Oh, I'm sure they did.
No, I did, see?
I was one of about a dozen people that they really recruited.
Are you a virgin?
Steve, come on.
- What? Am I what? - Are you a virgin?
L...
No.
How old were you when you first got laid?
I don't... I don't...
- Steve, will you leave him alone? - I asked you a question.
My wife and I have been married since we were in grad school.
I didn't ask you about your wife.
You're still a virgin. You just think you're not.
You don't fit in here.
Why are you even wasting our time?
I...
Yeah, I'll run a test on it.
Steve...
...you demolished that guy. - Woz, what we're doing right now...
...is like...
...opening doors.
Every day.
If you open the wrong one, all sorts of bad things will come at you.
You gotta be careful which door you open.
- You want me to go apologize to that guy? - Well, he probably left.
You know, Steve, there's things you probably have to get past with me.
But I'm telling you, there's things that I have to get past with you.
I mean, people say stuff about you sometimes...
...and I don't listen to them, because I know you.
I mean, I excuse stuff because we're friends.
It's worth it. It is.
It's worth it. It's worth it. It's worth it.
It was about five years after I got out of Harvard...
... I get this call from Bill, who says, "You wanna join me and Paul?"
It was a two-bit little company they called Microsoft.
And at first I think, "Yeah. Like I'd like to lose more hair. "
But, you know, then I started thinking.
You know how you survive?
You make people need you.
You survive because you make them need what you have.
And then they have nowhere else to go.
Right now we're dead.
- Nobody needs us. - So we make them need us?
We're too small even to matter.
We could be snuffed out tomorrow, and no one would notice.
You know what they say in the Mafia?
You keep your friends close but your enemies closer.
Which enemies are you talking about?
I got some full barf bags here. Full barf bags. Heads up.
- He's sick. - Bald guy with barf bags.
Coming through. Full ones too. How you doing?
Come on.
- My tie. I forgot my tie. - Great, Bill. We're already late.
Hey, how you doing? Ten bucks for your tie. Okay, 20.
Thirty. Come on, come on. Thirty. Thirty bucks for that tie.
Where did you get that, Sears? Come on. Help us out here. Would you? Please?
You see, by that time, Bill had already figured out...
... that we gotta go right into the belly of the beast. The scariest beast of them all, IBM.
IBM. And back then, man, they were like Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan...
... and Vlad the Impaler all rolled into one.
But what we were gonna do was, we were gonna make them love us.
Gentlemen, how are you? Nice tie.
- Thanks. - We're over here.
Our shirts are as white as theirs.
We think we have what you need.
That's a start.
Now, we know that IBM has set up this place to compete head-on with Apple...
...and you're gearing up to come out with a personal computer that will wipe them out.
So we can get you an operating system.
What kind of operating system?
It's called...
...DOS.
This is amazing. Not just amazing, it's historic.
It should be taught in all the history books.
I mean, hung and framed in the National Gallery or something.
Because this is the instant of creation...
...of one of the greatest fortunes in the history of the world.
I mean, Bill Gates is the richest guy in the world because of what started in this room.
You wanna know what else?
It wasn't exactly smoke and mirrors, but we didn't have anything.
I mean, not a damn thing.
Here we were, this two-bit little outfit...
...telling IBM we had the answer to their problems.
DOS? The Disk Operating System?
To make all those zillion IBM computers compute?
We didn't even remotely own anything like what Bill was selling them.
Nada, zip.
Of course, we don't just wanna sell it to you outright.
We wanna be able to license it to you.
- You want to retain ownership? - Right.
Well, the profits are in the computers themselves, not this software stuff.
No big deal.
Oh, and one other thing.
We have to be able...
...to sell it to other outfits.
But...
...there was just one little problem.
Bill, why did you tell them we have an operating system?
We don't have a thing to sell them now. We're dead.
- We're not. You'll give us the miracle, right? - Oh, yeah, right.
Well, come on. You said you knew a guy we could buy an operating system from.
I said I sort of know him.
Sort of? You heard me. Don't tell me "sort of. " I just told IBM.
Sort of.
- Here you go. - Thanks.
So basically, you're saying you wanna buy my operating system.
Yeah.
Why?
You know, I don't know. We just think we might be able to mess with it and resell it.
Who to?
We have a few customers, you know, we're sort of talking to.
Some of them don't want it known what we're doing.
So they made us sign a secrecy agreement.
- And you're offering us...? - Fifty thousand.
- Dollars? - Dollars.
You worried?
Oh, no. Only my whole life hangs in the balance. Me, worried? No.
We got IBM.
IBM. I mean, come to think of it...
...why would IBM wanna make a deal with a bunch of bozos like us?
Because they're successful, Ballmer.
Success is a menace. It fools smart people into thinking they can't lose.
So?
So, you mute moron?
Can you hear it? The sound of money?
The roar of money. It was like everywhere you turned, money poured down.
Millions and more millions.
All because we bought that guy's operating system for a measly 50,000 bucks.
That fueled a worldwide explosion of wealth unlike anything in the history of man.
But you know something?
Having money and being cool are not necessarily the same thing.
- Hi, I'm Bill Gates... - Hey.
What in the...?
Hi.
You know, you should really watch where you're going.
You must have really great bandwidth.
- Excuse me? - What are you doing later?
Who is that jerk?
Way to go, hotshot.
When Paul and I were at Lakeside, we were in 10th grade together...
...we rigged a computer so we could get classes with all the best girls.
Obviously, it's been downhill since then.
You should walk around with your bankbook hanging from a chain on your belt.
Or maybe you ought to stop yelling in front of your employees.
Girls don't like yelling. They like cool.
Oh, really, Ballmer? How do you get to be cool?
I don't know. You saw Saturday Night Fever. Travolta's cool.
I'd like to welcome all of you to the new headquarters and home of Apple Computers.
All of a sudden, Steve was a huge star.
The kind where people practically hang on your every word...
... like they're excited just to be around you.
Thank you very much for joining us today on this lovely day...
...and helping us stop the gossip rumors in their tracks.
Without further ado, the rumors are true.
Ladies and gentlemen, our new president, John Sculley.
To tell you the truth, I was perfectly happy to be president of Pepsi-Cola...
...until Steve Jobs came to recruit me and said:
"Do you wanna sell sugared water for the rest of your life...
...or do you wanna make history?"
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- I know. - Yeah, operator.
- I need information for Oregon. - Okay, give me a minute.
Steve, I gotta talk. I don't know how to act in situations like this.
- In a minute. - I mean, Steve, that stock-offering thing?
A hundred million dollars?
- What do you do with $ 116 million? - In a minute.
I don't think rich, okay? I know a lot of people think rich, but I don't think rich.
I mean, maybe you learn it, but, jeez, $ 100 million. That's a lot of learning to do.
I hardly ever had enough for lunch before all this.
We should have given stock to the other guys, Steve.
Like Dan? Dan's been with us since we started...
...and you didn't set aside any stock for him.
Steve.
- I'm gonna give Dan some of my stock. - Yeah, is Arlene there?
We gotta do the right thing.
Arlene? Okay, fine. Let's talk about this baby.
Steve, why do you care what I call the baby?
Because I don't want the baby named Rainbow.
Or Orisha or Ravi Shankar or any other name like that.
Steve, not right now, okay?
Well, when the hell is a good time to call? Because every time I try...
Steve.
- Do you want me to take that? - Thank you.
You're welcome.
Hi.
So I just came by to make sure everything's okay.
- Everything okay? - Thank you.
And to...
...make sure that you're not gonna name it some weird name.
What's wrong with naming her Orisha?
Or Sunshine or Purity?
A kid's got enough problems in this world...
...not knowing where it belongs.
A name can label a kid.
Make it...
It can make it an outsider.
Not "it. "
Her.
Lisa.
Okay.
She's your daughter too.
Arlene, let's not go through that again.
You don't just live in life.
You change it, you shape it, you make your mark upon it.
And that's what, get used to the name...
...Lisa is gonna do.
Yeah!
You know, that computer was the first big new project we had at Apple.
And some people are still wondering why Steve insisted on that name.
You wanna call a computer Lisa?
Isn't that your baby's...?
I mean...
What's her name? Arlene. Isn't that Arlene's baby's name?
Other guys here have daughters named Lisa.
Steve, you got a baby up there you don't even wanna talk about.
- I mean, it looks sort of... - Sort of what?
We have to think of ourselves as artists.
It's like Picasso said:
Good artists copy. Great artists steal.
This is who we wanted to steal from. Xerox.
They were secretly developing all this amazing stuff...
... like the mouse and the graphics on the screen instead of just a bunch of numbers.
But when those California engineers had to go to New York...
... and present all this neat stuff to the Xerox brass...
... those executives didn't begin to understand what they were looking at.
Never mind a mouse. It was like someone dumped a dead rat on the boardroom table.
A mouse.
You want Xerox to consider something called a mouse?
See, this is where Steve was a genius...
... because he persuaded Xerox into showing us all this incredible stuff...
... their California guys had developed.
I tell you, it was making their people absolutely nuts.
Oh, God.
Let's go.
You know, I felt like one of the Mongol hordes...
... coming to loot and plunder a bunch of defenseless villagers.
No, no. This is insane.
We'd just be handing him everything.
We created the mouse and all the rest of it, and now these idiots in New York...
...want to show it all to Steve Jobs.
I won't do it.
Hi. I'm Steve Jobs.
I need you to answer some other questions about the stuff you've invented.
The graphic interface?
It's not going to hurt.
That's what you think.
- What do you want to know? - How does it...?
What is your base length? Is it integer, or is it compound?
Does your operating system convert to executable codes?
- I got it. I got it, Steve-O. I got it, Steve-O. - What is the middle...?
It's pretty neat, right?
Click, you're there.
Click, you're somewhere else.
This graphic interface stuff was like a miracle back then, and we got it.
Steve got it, from Xerox, who just turned it all over for us to fool with.
Like rich people giving junky old stuff to the Salvation Army...
...only the junk turns out to be a Rembrandt.
About $ 100 billion head start on everyone else.
Apple was making tons of money. It was great.
And of course, I sort of lost my mind. I mean, it was all fun and games.
I started buying really expensive toys.
It was me with my own plane.
Only problem was, maybe I wasn't as good a pilot as I thought I was.
I mean, it's one thing when computers crash, but planes?
You don't want to know.
Hey, Steve. Are you just getting here?
No, I was just outside talking to the doctor.
You don't remember us talking 10 minutes ago?
- We talked? - Yeah.
Hey, my hard disk crashed.
A computer guy with memory problems.
Oh, man.
It's the weirdest thing. You know there's a part of your life there...
...only you don't know about it.
It makes you crazy.
Hey.
Hey!
Paul.
Simonyi, get Matthews.
Ballmer, get in here.
- What is it? - This is seriously crummy.
Apple's new computer, Lisa? We're dead.
Oh, yeah, I've already seen one.
The graphics and the operating system they have...
...they make what we're selling IBM look a decade out-of-date.
- I want it. - What do you mean, you want it?
- It's Apple's. We can't just go and steal it. - You're not listening to me. I want it.
Final call for TWA flight 2684 to San Jose. Final call.
- Fifty bucks he misses the flight. - You're on.
It wouldn't hurt to buy a car radio, Bill.
- I can't pick up the radio... - One traffic report.
- Hold on. - Sir, we're on this plane.
I'm sorry. Your plane is on the runway.
Ma'am, what kind of service is this today?
I'm sorry, sir. There's nothing that can bring that plane back to the gate.
Yes, there is. Willpower. I'm going to will that that plane be turned around.
- Oh, really? - Really, sir.
Are you aware that today in my briefcase are computer language codes?
- Do you know what they do, sir? - I'm afraid I don't.
They protect against viruses. You're aware of viruses, I presume?
- Sir, I do go to doctors. - No, sir, computer viruses.
Oh, yeah, I just read an article about those things.
- They can wipe out a whole computer. - A whole system of computers.
Like the one behind your terminal there, like the one in the plane...
...like the one on all planes in the airlines, like the one in the control tower, sir.
I ask you, are you prepared to take responsibility for your actions...
...if I don't get this information on that plane?
Jeez, his reputation for inconveniencing the rest of the world is intact.
He actually missed a flight.
This is your captain speaking. We have to return to the gate for a few minutes.
Nothing critical.
- Attention, please, flight... - Your tickets, please.
- You have the tickets, right? - No, I gave them to you.
Bill, in the car.
Wow. These guys must be 50 times bigger than we are.
Good artists copy. Great artists steal.
- Oh, yeah? Who said that? - Some artist. I think it was Van Gogh.
Hey, check it out.
Aye, matey. It wouldn't be time to rape and pillage, would it?
You sure it's okay to let these Microsoft guys in here?
We have culture. They don't.
No taste. No original thinking.
But they can be useful to us.
Time for the dog and pony show.
Welcome to Apple.
Bill.
Nice to see you. Thanks for coming. Steve.
- How you doing, Steve? - Glad you're here. Paul. Hi, Steve Jobs.
- Hi. Charles Simonyi. - Come on in. Let me introduce you.
This is Gilmore. He's one of our top programmers.
And he's a loyal man. Well, to do this, you need loyalty.
- Total loyalty. Isn't that right? - That's the plan, Steve.
This way. The Macintosh team. It's more like a family.
Everybody else is an outsider.
- What's with the pirate stuff? - What do I always tell you?
Better to be a pirate than join the Navy.
- You a pirate? - Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely, Steve.
I've been up for 52 hours straight.
Loyalty.
I'm gonna show you the future.
It's top-secret. It's still about...
...a year away from introduction.
The ultimate, insanely great...
...fusion of art and science.
- It's called the Macintosh. - This is definitely not the Lisa.
That's a graphic user interface.
I don't understand. How does a computer handle the mouse-cursor display?
Hardware's got nothing to do with the mouse.
- It's all in the software. - Enough.
Sorry, Steve.
There's no point in torturing our guests...
...with what they can't have.
You're vulnerable in spreadsheets, you know, Steve.
We can help you.
Ninety hours a week. Like the T-shirt? I'm gonna give it to my people.
Some of them work even more than 90 hours a week.
We have Multiplan running on dozens of different platforms.
No one can match us.
You can't just have employees anymore.
It's great.
No, they gotta be into a crusade.
It's like art, science, religion, all rolled into one.
We have multi-tool interface. It can be redesigned for the Mac.
Redesigned. Redesigned.
We're artists here.
A place where raw sand comes in one end...
...and goes out the other. Silicon art.
You know, IBM, they're gonna want all our stuff.
IBM?
IBM, they're history.
I mean, they're 1950s, they're ice America, a bloated enemy in a crumbling castle.
- And we're storming it. - I know IBM is the enemy, Steve.
But we can help you.
You don't have to worry about IBM.
Yeah?
So why you even working with them?
I'd much rather work with you.
We're in.
- We're doing work for Apple. - You're kidding me.
They're sending us three prototypes of the computer we just saw.
- The Macintosh. - For God sakes.
There's a pirate flag flying above our heads, and he's giving us the crown jewel?
Who the hell's the pirate here?
He sees what he believes, not the other way around.
We're not his worst problem.
If he's not careful, he's gonna wreck the place.
- Macintosh! Macintosh! - Macintosh rules!
- Apple II's the best! - Mac's the best!
Even when I got my memory back, it was never the same for me.
I couldn't believe how it had all changed.
Apple was tearing itself to pieces.
Steve had turned it into two camps:
His new Macintosh group against everyone else in the company.
Steve, what the hell is this?
It's like a family. Things get messy.
I don't understand this.
You got the Mac people against the Apple II people?
- They're beating each other up. - Amazing, huh?
People wanna be shaped, molded.
But if you asked any of them, any of them, they'd deny it.
I don't wanna shape anybody, Steve. This isn't fun anymore.
Maybe fun is just fragments of existence with better packaging.
I don't make jokes anymore.
I told you a long time ago, I like jokes.
Steve! Goodbye. I'm quitting Apple.
- Well, that's a joke, right? - No. I'm going back to college.
Woz. Hey, what are you doing? I don't think it's such a good idea.
All I'm doing now is being a brake pedal for you as you're heading for the wall.
Woz!
- I ask you for brilliance? - Steve.
I've asked you for genius, and you're giving me this?
Steve, please.
Oh, no, Steve, not again.
It's 3 a. m., okay? I don't have the energy to defend an unfinished design.
That's because there's nothing to defend.
I want beauty, not incompetence.
Are you listening to me?
- Are you listening...? - Yes, I'm listening!
I am so sick of your abusiveness.
That's all you know. Tearing people down, throwing tantrums.
- You miserable son of a bitch. - What are you doing? Come on, back off.
I know we've been in a battle...
...and like all battles, we've had our casualties along the way.
But today's about celebrating.
The Macintosh.
It's time for a christening...
...of our little Macintosh.
Our baby.
- Congratulations. - Congratulations.
Real artists ship.
In this company, in Apple, in the entire business...
...we, you, the Macintosh team, are the only true artists.
You can forget Apple, forget Lisa.
It's only us. The Macintosh team.
We have been chosen to seize history.
But first, carpe diem, seize the day. It's your time to party, people.
Hey, John.
You hear what I heard in there?
- Hey, man, what'd you say about Steve? - I'm sick of his crap.
- What'd you say, man? - You heard me.
You wanna talk like that about Steve?
You wanna talk like that about the guy who feeds you, man?
- The guy who feeds you? - Come on. Break it up.
Come on.
- Hey, hey, guys. - Somebody pull him off.
- Never like this at Pepsi-Cola. - Knock it off.
You wanna sell sugar water the rest of your life?
Steve, I'm worried.
Yeah?
Yeah, about what's happening.
All the, you know, "them versus us" stuff. Macintosh versus Apple II.
You don't understand, John. People need a cause.
We missed Vietnam. This is our Vietnam.
- It's tearing the company apart. - Creation is messy.
You want genius, you get madness. Two sides of the same coin.
You knew that when I brought you in.
Steve, if you can't trust me, then God help you.
I didn't mention anything about trust, John.
There's another problem.
- It's Arlene and the baby. - That's my business.
No, not anymore. TIME magazine is doing another story.
You don't need the bad press. Neither do we.
- Child's not mine. - Steve, come on. You took a paternity test.
She is yours. It's right there in the results.
- Paternity tests are a joke. - She's asking for $20,000.
- Total, nothing more. - Blackmail.
Steve, you can afford the money. Give her what she's asking for.
- You should give her more. - It's not about the damn money.
Well, what is it, then?
I don't know.
Mommy, there's a man here.
It's been what, a year?
- Yeah, I've been busy. - I'm sure.
- Why'd you come? - I don't know.
She's looking really good.
You should have come to see her.
- You could have brought her by. - Oh, Steve.
Here.
Thank you.
Thank you, Lisa.
- Steve Jobs is killing us. Ballmer! - Yeah?
This stuff is crummy. It's totally crummy.
- Windows was supposed to ship last year. - We're ready for you.
Why do I have to do this? I have work. This is stupid.
It's good PR. It's for The Wall Street Journal.
- I don't need PR. - Can you stand a little to the left?
The hole in that sweater of your shirt. Turn all the way to the right.
What am I, a trained seal?
- Lf Apple can do this, why can't we? - What do you want us to do?
- Whatever you have to. - Meaning what, Bill?
Meaning ship Windows before the snow falls.
- This is Seattle. It doesn't snow here. - Whatever, Steve.
Mr. Gates, I think you should take off your sweater...
...because it clashes with the background.
The green and blue, it's just not in these days.
It's not in at all.
Sweat stains. This is awful.
- I'd like to get back to work... - I know, we're almost ready.
Okay, and three, two, one. Smile, please.
Urgent, Mr. Gates.
Thank you. What's next?
Steve Jobs.
"Mr. Jobs demands you be in his office tonight. "
He's getting paranoid over what we're doing.
Maybe he should be.
Not at the pace you're going.
I think I had a date tonight with Ann.
- I thought she was away on business. - She is.
Then how can you have a date?
Well, I go to a movie here, and then she goes to the same movie in Denver...
...and then we talk on the phone about it afterwards.
Jeez, Bill, I hate to see what happens when you two have sex.
You're stealing from us!
Steve, we're not stealing from you. So don't tell me that.
What the hell are you doing, then?
What is this that I keep hearing about you developing this...?
What do you call it? Windows?
To compete with us?
- I'm not doing anything against you, Steve. - Don't give me that crap!
You're pirating the software off our Mac prototypes!
I trusted you.
If you wanna know everything we're working on, I'll show you.
The weird thing was...
... Steve Jobs was the one guy Bill would never yell at. It was the opposite.
Steve would order Bill to fly down there and then blow up at him...
... but Bill, he would just wait it out, convince Steve that we were no threat...
... that this Windows stuff was just that much more smoke and mirrors...
... and a few hours later, everything was fine.
I'm telling you, Bill's a genius at it.
And that's all you're working on?
Of course.
- Yeah? - You know what else?
Did you read what I said in that newspaper story on us two days ago?
- No. What'd you say? - I said when your Macintosh comes out...
...that'd be the only computer I'd want to buy my mom.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
Your mom, huh?
- It's like we're one big family, you know? - Family?
You know that.
Family.
Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve!
Tell me something.
When did this stop being a business and start being a religion?
Thank you for your work.
And remember, what we will do in the next year...
...will change the way people think...
...and communicate.
Hey.
- Hey. - So enjoy the revolution...
...which we have all created and watch...
You know, Steve thinks IBM's the enemy.
- Unfolds in front of us.
He doesn't get it.
You guys are.
What are you talking about?
Copies of your Windows just started surfacing here.
You took our stuff, Bill.
You took our stuff, you fooled with it, and you called it your own.
You always insult your guests like this?
Make no mistake.
We are all one big family.
And part of it are our friends at Microsoft.
Bill?
Ladies and gentlemen, Bill Gates.
Finally, I wanna show you a preview...
...of the most amazing 60 seconds of film you'll ever see.
And we're showing it only once...
...during the Super Bowl.
So watch and see how we handle IBM.
I mean Big Brother.
See, that commercial was interesting in a lot of ways...
... because when we're at this big hoopla at Apple...
... and their engineers are unpacking all these Japanese computers...
... with the first copies of our stuff, Windows...
... that looks a lot like their stuff...
I mean, if I had to pick a moment...
Hey...
...I'm getting some pretty weird vibes here.
Sure we should stay around?
Sometimes you deal them. Sometimes you fold them.
Now's not the time to fold.
We shall prevail.
I obviously made a mistake.
I made a mistake.
I trusted.
I believed.
Family.
Maybe a Mafia family. You turn your back, and you get whacked.
Our guys come back from Japan with this NEC...
...and it's loaded with Microsoft programs. Your Microsoft programs.
They're almost identical to ours.
There may be some similarities, Steve.
Similarities?
- Try theft. - Steve, all cars have steering wheels...
...but no one tries to claim that the steering wheel was their invention.
- We have a contract, you and I. - Well, you should read it more carefully.
What is this?
This is like doing business with...
...like, a praying mantis.
You get seduced and then eaten alive afterwards.
Get real, will you?
You and I are both like guys that have this rich neighbor...
...Xerox...
...that left the door open all the time.
And you go sneaking in to steal the TV set.
Only when you get there, you realize that I got there first.
I got the loot, Steve!
And you're yelling?
"That's not fair.
I wanted to try to steal it first. "
You're too late.
We're better than you are.
- We have better stuff. - You don't get it, Steve.
That doesn't matter.
You know, like a lot of things, there always seems to be one last time.
For us, it was when we all came together again...
... for this big party Steve threw for his 30th birthday.
It was just one of those things.
You know, where you try really hard to make something work...
... but somehow it just doesn't.
And maybe you should have known it all along.
- Is that really Ella Fitzgerald? - I have absolutely no idea.
You hear the kind of food they're serving?
- Salmon mousse, goat's cheese. - I can't eat that stuff.
- Why don't we go to Denny's? - Is that Joan Baez with him?
Wait, wait. Who's Joan Baez?
- Hi. - John.
I need to talk to you. It's important.
Okay, John. Excuse me.
We've got a problem. We've been asked to make a toast to Steve.
Me? Toast Steve? No way, man. Not after what's happened. No way.
Oh, John, don't look at me. L... Mike, you do it.
After the past few months? I don't think so.
John, you're the one.
- No. Not now. Absolutely no way. - Why not?
- Look, Steve thinks I'm his... - He thinks you're what?
Ladies and gentlemen, a toast.
To a remarkable man.
A man who brought me to this company...
...without whom none of this tonight would ever have happened.
Steve Jobs, truly a guiding light. A man who sees the future.
- Hear, hear! - Steve.
Happy birthday!
It's weird, but sometimes you find things that are more important to you...
...than the things you think are important. You know what I mean?
Maybe it's just getting older.
Okay, guys. Let's see how we did.
That's a good one.
It's true.
We're learning about the size of the sun versus the size of the Earth.
Hi, Steve.
I think it's gonna be really interesting, I mean, you and me together.
Yeah.
It is.
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