Author Topic: Micro Men movie(2009)  (Read 1981 times)

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Offline BudTopic starter

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Micro Men movie(2009)
« on: June 13, 2020, 03:02:01 pm »
A captivating drama about the war between  Sinclair and their rivals Acorn Computers for dominance on the personal computer market in Britain in earlier 80-s. Also touches on other Clive Sinclair's projects- portable TV, calculators, electronic watch and electric car.

https://youtu.be/XXBxV6-zamM
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Offline ebastler

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Re: Micro Men movie(2009)
« Reply #1 on: June 14, 2020, 08:50:22 am »
Great find, thank you! Very nicely done movie, except for the wig they put on the Clive Sinclair actor...  ;)
 

Online tggzzz

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Re: Micro Men movie(2009)
« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2020, 09:12:08 am »
As someone that was living and working in Cambridge 81-87, that movie neatly captures the zeitgeist of that time.

I can say something similar about Cringley's "Accidental Empires", but I only saw that from a distance.
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Offline Fred27

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Re: Micro Men movie(2009)
« Reply #3 on: June 14, 2020, 10:46:11 am »
Thanks for the heads up. I'd never heard of the movie but watched it last night and enjoyed it. I seem to have been the last to have heard of Halt and Catch Fire too. That's worth a watch.
 

Offline BudTopic starter

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Re: Micro Men movie(2009)
« Reply #4 on: June 14, 2020, 01:59:41 pm »
Great find, thank you! Very nicely done movie, except for the wig they put on the Clive Sinclair actor...  ;)
Yeah, that was my thought, too.  :) 
I wonder if Clive Sinclair was indeed such a bad ass guy  :D
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Online tggzzz

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Re: Micro Men movie(2009)
« Reply #5 on: June 14, 2020, 02:17:43 pm »
Great find, thank you! Very nicely done movie, except for the wig they put on the Clive Sinclair actor...  ;)
Yeah, that was my thought, too.  :) 
I wonder if Clive Sinclair was indeed such a bad ass guy  :D

No comment, but he always took out two or three too many components from his products.

Having said that, I did buy one of his products because there was no practical alternative. My Sinclair Scientic is still working, just. As is my recently acquired HP35.
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
Having fun doing more, with less
 

Offline BudTopic starter

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Re: Micro Men movie(2009)
« Reply #6 on: June 14, 2020, 02:25:07 pm »
Did you guys read in Youtube comments that the women that rang the bell in the final scene at the pub telling Clive and Chris to leave was actually Sothie (Roger) Wilson, the inventor of the ARM. The movie creators got her for the scene. I think that scene that only lasts a few seconds has a subtle meaning, sort of the time of mickey-mouse computers is over, the ARM is on the way, so time for you guys to leave  :D
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Offline BudTopic starter

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Re: Micro Men movie(2009)
« Reply #7 on: July 13, 2020, 04:52:34 pm »
Another gem from the movie, in a similar manner as Sophie Wilson - a brief appearance of real Jim Westwood, the engineer behind Sinclair ZX computers (the man on the left in the screenshot)



I wonder what other Easter eggs are hiding in the movie  :)

A link to the source article which is worth reading in full:
https://www.theregister.com/2011/11/15/heroes_of_tech_jim_westwood/
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Offline BudTopic starter

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Re: Micro Men movie(2009)
« Reply #8 on: August 06, 2020, 01:48:14 am »
Here is Hermann Hauser, a co-founder of Acorn Computers, and a character been played in the movie, speaking about ARM. Admittedly, this is a long 3 hrs video, but thanks to the charming personality of Mr. Hauser, it is 3 hours of non-stop stories including a funny story of founding the company and their first customer, how nobody wanted to buy ARM at first, and subsequent development of ARM. Interestingly, a few times he referred to ARM as "my chip", perhaps having a right to do so, being at management positions at Acorn and later companies and being involved in taking ARM where it is now. Enjoy!

"Oral history of Hermann Hauser" from the Computer History Museum:

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Online tggzzz

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Re: Micro Men movie(2009)
« Reply #9 on: August 06, 2020, 09:22:41 am »
Here is Hermann Hauser, a co-founder of Acorn Computers, and a character been played in the movie, speaking about ARM. Admittedly, this is a long 3 hrs video, but thanks to the charming personality of Mr. Hauser, it is 3 hours of non-stop stories including a funny story of founding the company and their first customer, how nobody wanted to buy ARM at first, and subsequent development of ARM. Interestingly, a few times he referred to ARM as "my chip", perhaps having a right to do so, being at management positions at Acorn and later companies and being involved in taking ARM where it is now. Enjoy!

"Oral history of Hermann Hauser" from the Computer History Museum:

Thanks for pointing that out.

I didn't have three hours, but I spent 45 minutes reading the transcript at https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102739951

It was most interesting to me because it mentioned a company I was involved in at the beginning. I didn't know the end, but there were no surprises to me.
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
Having fun doing more, with less
 
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