Triumph of the Nerds

Whilst cleaning out a dusty cupboard, I found an old VHS copy of "Triumph of the Nerds", a documentary by Robert X Cringley first shown in 1996.   Curious as to how the documentary stands up today, and the players who were changing the world over a decade and a half ago, I dusted off the old VHS player and ripped the tape into a more modern format watched the documentary.

Triumph of the Nerds

The three-part series runs for just over 2 and a half hours, and portrays the early days of Microsoft, Apple, Xerox PARC, MITS and many other pioneering companies.

Where are they now?  Obviously the first two are still doing reasonably well (!), but PARC still exists as a niche research facility, and MITS was sold in 1976 after creating an almost-overnight industry with the Altair 8800.

Altair 8800 Computer with 8 circuit boards installed.

In the interests of keeping the history of our industry alive, grab a copy of the documentary on DVD.

Whilst you're at it, pick one up for me too, so I can finally retire the VHS player in the cupboard.