Pirates of Silicon Valley Page #4

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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?

- 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 [Cs 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...

mlooking 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 H.

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?

N:

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?

'U---

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?

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