a kid working in his garage can create the next outpost, the new ibm. all it takes is a great idea.
that's why nobody can have a monopoly in a business built on ideas.
milo? gary boyd. i'm hoping you and your friend can come up here. we've made some amazing strides in digital convergence. i'd love to show them to you.
milo? excuse the tie. i was on tv.
the house knows the paintings i like, it knows my favorite music. same for anybody else who's in the system.
would you like a coke or something?
when we started, i just hired my smart friends. that was great. we got a little bigger, i had to hire smart strangers. much harder.
now i don't get to hire anybody. but i know you're the guy to write skywire.
there's a rumor going around, maybe you've heard it.
there's more to life than computers? i'm looking into it.
'once i start looking into something.
i've only shown this to three other people. i bought 200, we've launched 12 so far. i keep the coordinates in this room. it's left over from sdi. reagan's star wars technology? they orbit 426 miles up.
among other things.  we know convergence is the real super-highway: all the pc's, tv's, phones, etc. linked together. why cram it into a cable if you can use the whole sky?
the content filer has t'be written into the media files so bits coming off the satellite can be read by multiplatforms. really, omniplatforms. including whatever new hardware emerges.
you'd have to start practically from scratch. but this is all you'd be working on. no marketing meetings, no product seminars. we can't waste the time. half the valley's working on convergence. so're media conglomerates, cable companies, phone companies. 'can't finish second, milo. there is no second.  now what would you like to ask me?
i know what people say, and not just the justice department. we clone ideas, inflict our second-rate versions on the world, we haven't done anything original since 1.0.
do i think that's fair? no. i'd put some of our apps up against anybody's. but is there some truth to it?
when you get to a certain age, you start wondering. about your legacy. i doubt you even remember outpost
yeah? i wanna feel like i did when i wrote that. but i'm 42, that's 100 in cyber-years. i look at you and see the things that got me here. but somehow got away.
okay. i'm gary.
'think i should buy some originals?
somebody said i'm just another philistine. with reproductions.
that's what i told her. my wife.
'thinks i'll be less of a control freak if i have a hobby. 'just gives me something else to obsess about.
anything we can salvage from the old code before you start fresh?
don't spend too much time searching. you ever vetted somebody's old code before? it's a different skill. stay close to the surface. the best-hidden secrets are in plain sight. you know the best place to hide a leaf, right? in a tree.
i don't remember.
i'm confused. am i supposed to speculate under oath?
didn't i? have an answer? "i don't remember."
this is good. who did it?
maybe we should all get on it.
how's it going?
too fast? at least four companies're on the verge of workable convergence systems, milo, they --
even when i had a hand in every aspect of the company i knew the one thing you can never control is somebody's creative process.
take a look at this. slightly different approach.
you're making me young again.
i'm confused, ted.
didn't you tell me they'd be chapter 12 by the time they could hope to enjoin? i'm very confused, because you said they'd be ready to settle.
milo. what's up?
right.  right.
what're you implying.
everything i do is under scrutiny. the questions they ask, trying to make anything strategic look sordid. i'm confused. doesn't everybody in business try to get ahead?
the purpose of this company isn't to destroy our competitors any more than the purpose of living is to breath. but the software business is binary: you're a zero or a one. being obsessive isn't a crime. it's a character trait.
it scales, don't you think?
what'd the girl say?
nothing does. still. i want him to like me.
i heard what happened.
had you talked to him much lately?
did you?
i meant did you find other stuff to --
you've been coming in early.
milo?
34,000. but they're real short lines. 'just came out that way.
been thinking about the push mechanism in the handler. and it came over me: it's in the wrong place.
the answer's not in the box. it's in the band.
milo? try to have a clue. try to think.
you look a little tired.
'have a look?
why did you move around so much? when you were a kid.
what would you tell the kids? at your new school? you had to come up with a good story, right?
worse?
don't be so hard on yourself. with a brain like yours, you could connive with the best of 'em i bet.
milo?
i'm giving a benefit for the art museum thursday night. thought you'd like to bring alice.
'sorry about the late notice.
alice, i'm gary. this is my wife, clarissa. milo, this is barry linder, who's visiting from hollywood.
barry's studio's gonna help fill the skywire pipeline, thought you guys should meet.
"dear lisa. i've enjoyed working with you. i'd be lying if i didn't say i find you attractive. but in my heart i know that alice" you left my party to send e-mail?
you could've handwritten it.
oh, that's right. you're "clueless."
no problem. is there?
you see what's hanging on the wall?
i hope you know what you mean to me. not just because of what you're doing. because of who you are.
when will you have a beta version?
i do know. you focus on the big problem. but somewhere down the chain, something breaks down. something gets destroyed. at first it's upsetting. you feel you've lost control.
so you have to remind yourself: it's just the process. something's always lost along the way to anything worthwhile. some little bug, some glitch. 'can't get bogged down in that, you're doing something other people could never do. they lack the imagination, the brain, the nerve. let them fret about every unforeseen consequence. you have to solve the problem. that's who you are.
that's what he was doing in here.
help me change the skywire settings. add five degrees to each satellite coordinate.
just do what i'm asking!
okay, #2.
let's go.
wait.  he knows.
'knows i'm altering the coordinates. let's jump to #12.
just do it.
cop a plea? i'm confused, ted. you think i knew about this?
i'm running the company, fighting the doj, raising a family. randy and phil obviously overreacted. to this endless, antitrust witchhunt.
that won't be a problem.
as for pr, skywire'll take care of all that.
the world's seen it now. they know it's gonna dominate the convergence market even beyond how outpost '98 dominates the desktop.
go after us, you give foreign competitors a shot at the platform that'll hold sway for 30 years: you threaten not just our chip and pc partners like when you came after the browser.
you threaten tv networks, phone companies, catalog outlets, publishing houses, movie studios, travel agents, airlines, stock brokerages -- you sabotage the whole economy. talk about undermining innovation!
"i had no knowledge of these activities, but i have to ask myself if the competitive environment i encouraged in some small way contributed --"