CGS 1555: Intro to the Internet Syllabus

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mazon.com video review: Triumph of the Nerds won legions of computer-skeptical and computer-naive viewers with its mix of minutiae and hip techniques. Going one step further into the digital maze, Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet operates as a sequel of sorts to the surprise docu-hit. Just as its precursor chronicled the rise of empires built on computer software, Nerds 2.0.1 collects interviews from key players in the development of the Internet. Fashionably hip in its visual feel, the film begins by amassing data on the net's crowning, collaborative irony: conceived in the Pentagon during the counterculture's smokiest high point by members--dare it be said--of the military industrial complex, the Net developed on the axis of university research networks and Deadhead (as in The Grateful Dead) electronic bulletin boards. Much of the rest has become history, but Internet and computer industry pundit Robert X. Cringley makes the narrative a jumping, attractive embrace of being a nerd. Interviews with Bill Gates, Mark Andreesen, and Steve Case make these three hours (three tapes slipcased in a nice box) fly by. --Andrew Bartlett

For more details view: http://www.pbs.org/opb/nerds2.0.1/

PBS Review:
Volume(Tape) 1: Networking the Nerds

“The first tape reviews the seeds of the Internet planted by Uncle Sam and how we owe it all to Sputnik. In reaction to Russia’s Leap ahead in technology, President Eisenhower and the Pentagon developed a new agency called ARPA. Developed by a small Massachusetts company BB&N, ARPAnet was created to connect computer researchers at universities across the nation. In nine months flat, the technology was invented, built, and installed on time and on budget—and this was a government project?” Running Time ~60 minutes

Volume(Tape) 2: Serving the Suits

“Enter the PC. With the proliferation of computers in the 1980s the first logical step was to connect them to a network. Logical, maybe,but first someone had to figure how to do it. That Guy was Bob Metcalfe, founder of 3COM who became the industry’s first millionaire. As the market for networking evolved, the battle for the office began in earnest. 3COM, SUN, Novell, Cisco, and a ‘little’ company called Microsoft entered the market creating a civil war and billion-dollar partnerships.” Running time: ~60 minutes

Volume(Tape) 3: Wiring the World

In the final episode Cringely visits Excite, a success story that keep growing. Excite began like most Silicon Valley entrepreneurial adventures-in someone’s garage. Throughout the series, Cringely followed the evolution of this company ever since the six burrito-eating nerds, fresh out of Stanford, started a business in 1994. Next, the makings of the World Wide Web is unlocked. The web was created by Tim Berners-Lee in Geneva, who made the” http://www” the star it is today. Whole the World Wide Web was making the internet available to more people, it still wasn’t a friendly experience. Netscape and Microsoft changed all that. With lightning speed, the Internet becomes a 24-hour medium where people can do business, chat amd go shopping. The Inter traffic was doubling every one hundred days, tens of millions of computers are now connected in the world, and billions of dollars of business are shifting to the net. The story ends in October 1998.” Running time: ~ 60 minutes

Credited cast overview:

Steve Ballmer .......... Himself (vice-president, Microsoft)
Robert X. Cringely .. Himself (host/interviewer)
Bill Gates ................ Himself (co-founder, Microsoft)
Steve Jobs ............... Himself (co-founder, Apple Computer)
Scott McNealy ......... Himself (co-founder of Sun Microsystems)

Bob Cringely has written two more video for Tv since his two Nerd Series:

Y2K: The Winter of Our Disconnect (1999) (TV)
Electric Money (2001) (TV)

To purchase from Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/6305128235/103-2307382-0020623?v=glance