Silicon Cowboys

Filmmaker Jason Cohen here recalls pioneers in the home-computer revolution who do not share the celebrity status/infamy of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. Houston-based Compaq Computers was formed by a quartet of former Texas Instruments employees in 1981 who just wanted to strike out on their own (partnering on a Mexican restaurant was briefly considered). Their insanely great idea: making a "luggable" suitcased-sized portable PC that, like industry-leader IBM, ran Microsoft software—and, thanks to careful engineering, did it better than IBM. Leading the "clone" offensive, Compaq challenged IBM in the business marketplace, David-vs.-Goliath fashion, over a 10-year rollercoaster ride—at the end of which the original founders, despite their meteoric success, had either left the company or, in the case of media-friendly CEO Rod Canion, been fired (Compaq apparently lagged behind rivals like Dell in outsourcing manufacturing to cheap overseas labor, a footnote not really explored here). Viewers with fond memories of the 1980s digital revolution—when William Shatner, John Cleese, and even a Charlie Chaplin impersonator were pitchmen for the marvelous new machines—will find this to be an agreeably nostalgic and entertaining (if also selective) slice of PC history. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)