e11 – Triumph of the Nerds, part 3

We conclude our coverage of Triumph of the Nerds, finally reaching the famous "sugar water" quote. Come learn how Microsoft did everything right, Apple permanently lost its soul, and Oracle wound up dominating the internet…or not.

Links for this episode:

• previously on Simple Beep: part 1 and part 2
• watch part 3 online: [YouTube] [archive.org]
• Windows 95 launch event
• Xerox PARC history
• Xerox Alto
• Jason Snell's print preview demo
• Steve Jobs' Reality Distortion Field
• PARC innovations borrowed by Apple
  • object-oriented programming
  • networked computing
  • the GUI
• John Sculley

Sculley and his PowerBook 160/165

• "THINK" poster
• Think Different ad campaign
• "hello" and "insanely great"

• origins of "Good artists copy; great artists steal."
• Apple / Adobe partnership
  • Adobe history (requires Flash, of course)
  • PostScript
  • LaserWriter
• Apple army sales video (featuring Steve Jobs as FDR!)
• Apple donates $50 million to diversity efforts (March 2015)
• Gates Foundation against malaria
• Apple v. Microsoft litigation
• Microsoft investments
  • MSNBC
  • Dreamworks

Stephen Spielberg rocking a Microsoft Bob hat.

• Atherton police blotter [1] [2]
• Jobs' early cloud computing vision (WWDC 1997)
• digital distribution of OS X Lion

1992 PCMag cover story pits the PC against Mac, NeXT, and Sun. (Spoiler: The PC wins.) pic.twitter.com/ZOz4CZi8Vs

— Harry McCracken (@harrymccracken) February 19, 2015

It only makes sense that any two of those four combined would be a nearly unstoppable force. History has told that tale too.

— Simple Beep podcast (@simple_beep) February 19, 2015