Hackers - Wizards of the Electronic Age

steve wozniak, apple, well, stewart brand, kevin kelley, steve levy, cheshire catalyst, andy hertzfeld, bill atkinson, lee felsenstein, richard stallman, richard greenblatt, mit, stanford, pdp, doug carlston, bruce baumgart, silicon valley, homebrew computer club, osborne, mac, bill budge, robert woodhead, andrew fluegelman, bob wallace, david hughes, copyright, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s

'Hackers - Wizards of Electronic Age' is a documentary filmed during a 1984 hacker conference in Sausalito, California. Top 100 computer designers of the time were invited to discuss the unique set of values that made the computer revolution possible and brainstorm about its future.

The conference, and consequently this documentary, was organized as a result of Steve Levy's book 'Hackers - Heroes of the Computer Revolution'. This book inspired Whole Earth Catalog editors Steward Brand and Kevin Kelley to provide a meeting ground for influential individuals in the computer industry of 1980s.

The documentary features a number of interviews on the meaning and motivation of hackers. According to Cheshire 'Catalyst', a hacker is a a person who hacks away at a computer until the program works. He contrasts this definition with a term 'cracker', where the same person breaks or cracks into system security. Steve Wozniak describes an obsessed individuals who avoids any activities that might distract him from hacking. For Wozniak hacker drive represents the children in us, the desire to discover, explore, and create.

Next, the documentary moves toward exploring the history of hacking by tracing multiple generations of hackers from early days at MIT AI Lab in 1960s to Silicone Valley hardware and software hackers of 1970s. This segment features interviews with representatives of each of the three generations like Richard Stallman, Steve 'Woz' Wozniak, Andy Hertzfeld, and many others.

There is an interesting discussion regarding software copyright protection, where there is a clear divide between hackers. On one hand, we have Richard Stallman who argues that paying for software without source code is equivalent to buying a house without blueprints. On the other hand, there is an argument from Robert Woodhead, designer of Wizardry, that his product is an art form and any modification to it would be an insult to its developers. At last, there is a discussion of a more moderate approach by Andrew Fluegelman and Bob Wallace, where software is distribute in the form of freeware or shareware and its authors get compensated voluntarily by satisfied users.

The documentary concludes with a number of product demos and discussions of the future and economy of hacking.

Overall this is an excellent documentary which discusses hacking unspoiled by media sensationalism that will come in future years.