The Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires

Triumph of the Nerds is a 1996 British/American television documentary, produced by John Gau Productions and Oregon Public Broadcasting for Channel 4 and PBS. It explores the development of the personal computer in the United States from World War II to 1995. The title Triumph of the Nerds is a play on the title of the 1984 comedy Revenge of the Nerds. It was first screened as three episodes between 14 and 28 April 1996 on Channel 4, and as a single programme on 16 December 1996 on PBS. Triumph of the Nerds was written and hosted by Robert X. Cringely (Mark Stephens) and based on his 1992 book Accidental Empires. The documentary is composed of numerous interviews with important figures connected with the personal computer including Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Paul Allen, Bill Atkinson, Andy Hertzfeld, Ed Roberts, and Larry Ellison. It also includes archival footage of Gary Kildall and commentary from Douglas Adams, the author of the science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Cringely followed the series with Nerds 2.0.1 (Glory of the Geeks in the UK), a history of the Internet to 1998, when the series was made. In 2012, Cringely released the full interview that Steve Jobs gave in 1995 for Triumph of the Nerds as the film Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview.