The story of Silicon Valley reflected in the relationship between Apple and Microsoft co-founders Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Having a few extra hours on a recent flight home, I decided to watch the old Turner film “Pirates of Silicon Valley.” The film is based on the excellent history of silicon valley “Fire in the Valley” by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine. Given that it only runs about 90 minutes in length, it’s not going to tell the entire story of Silicon Valley, but I think the film does a great job of capturing the spirit through the relationship between two of the biggest personalities in the industry: Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. What makes the film most interesting is that you get to see the evolution of the personalities and formation of their respective companies in the 1970s.The film covers the early days of Jobs and Wozniak selling “blue boxes” out of a VW van at Berkeley ultimately leading to the unveiling of the Apple I at the Homebrew Computer Club and the launch of the Apple II at the West Coast Computer Faire. At the same time, a parallel story emerges with Gates and Paul Allan at Harvard working on a BASIC interpreter for the newly launched MITS Altair computer. And ultimately, you get to see how Apple and Microsoft’s fates become intertwined with the development of graphical user interfaces lifted straight out of Xerox PARC. It’s a fascinating story, even for those already familiar with it. Although the dialog is obviously made up, there are enough “real world” events to provide an accurate historical context. And there are eerily accurate portraylas by Noah Wyle and Anthony Michael Hall as Jobs and Gates. It’s all there, right down to the verbal mannerisms, on-stage personas, late night poker games, drug-induced hallucinations, employee abuse, tractor races, speeding tickets and strippers. It’s a good movie and worth watching if you missed it the first time around. I wish it had run longer to provide more detail on some of the other elements of Gates & Jobs relationship. For example, when the the Mac was announced Gates was able to force Jobs to cancel their MacBasic product, by threatening to not renew the Applesoft Basic in the Apple II computer. Also the soundtrack is great, featuring music from the era by CCR, The Moody Blues, The Guess Who, Tears for Fears and Talking Heads among others. What more could you ask for other than a sequel? Open Source