The movie Hackers was released 27 years ago • Hacker News Board

Re: The movie Hackers was released 27 years ago

#81

Post by johnzim » Fri, Sep 16, 2022, 3:43 PM UTC

codingdave wrote: post #49

ed312 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are startups the closest you can still get to "punk rock in tech"? I would love for the dream of the 90s to still be alive somewhere...

Startups are the least punk rock thing in tech. Follow patterns and rules to match the expectations of VCs so they give you money... and then they drive what you do. I'm not saying people should not work in startups - they have their place in the industry. But there is nothing "punk rock" about them. If you want to break rules and work outside the lines, we have come full circle to the 90s - bootstrapped small busine…

The more expensive the Bay Area is to live in, the more the VC approach becomes the only game in town

Re: The movie Hackers was released 27 years ago

#82

Post by yamtaddle » Fri, Sep 16, 2022, 3:44 PM UTC

eimrine wrote: post #2

Hackers and Sneakers are maybe the only decent movies about so-called hackers.

Antitrust was fun. Not good, but fun.

Re: The movie Hackers was released 27 years ago

#83

Post by inanutshellus » Fri, Sep 16, 2022, 3:44 PM UTC

jgilias wrote: post #66

I still use "there's a pool on the roof" when meeting someone new to see if I've met one of my own :D

You get zero cool points out of pulling a prank like that.

Re: The movie Hackers was released 27 years ago

#84

Post by jgilias » Fri, Sep 16, 2022, 3:46 PM UTC

inanutshellus wrote: post #83

jgilias wrote: post #66

I still use "there's a pool on the roof" when meeting someone new to see if I've met one of my own :D

You get zero cool points out of pulling a prank like that.

Very nice :D

Re: The movie Hackers was released 27 years ago

#85

Post by cantSpellSober » Fri, Sep 16, 2022, 3:48 PM UTC

colordrops wrote: post #24

eimrine wrote: post #2

Hackers and Sneakers are maybe the only decent movies about so-called hackers.

Not a movie but have you seen Mr. Robot?

Fight Club is the same plot in movie form right? Unreliable narrator, secret society (starting with "F") of anarcho-capitalists bent on bringing down Big Credit, cheesy hacking lingo etc?

Re: The movie Hackers was released 27 years ago

#86

Post by eddieroger » Fri, Sep 16, 2022, 3:48 PM UTC

itintheory wrote: post #60

dfxm12 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hackers shows the career guys as lame and high strung, but the hobbyists (or as Razor and Blade put it, those hacking as a survival trait) as cool and having fun. It's easy for something fun to have the fun sucked out of it when it becomes a career. I think a part of the hacker sub-culture that Hackers touches on lightly is that you have to make your own space. It's not going to exist for you in some prepackaged easy…

> Hackers shows the career guys as lame and high strung, but the hobbyists (or as Razor and Blade put it, those hacking as a survival trait) as cool and having fun. I think The Plague was having fun.

He was only having fun when he was playing cat and mouse with the hackers (or just playing with Lorraine Bracco). When he was in his office being a boring IT guy, he was not enjoying it, nor was Penn Jillette when the Gibson was under attack and his boss was breathing down his neck. The Plague was having fun, but Eugene Belford was not.

Re: The movie Hackers was released 27 years ago

#87

Post by ulkesh » Fri, Sep 16, 2022, 3:50 PM UTC

marpstar wrote: post #57

hericium wrote: post #56

Hah. Just yesterday I was contemplating how awful Angelina Jolie's character's handle "Acid Burn" was. Like - who the fuck would choose such nickname for themselves? Other than that - cult movie. Love it. Awesome soundtrack, not that bad acting and not that bad script for back when computers and internet were hip, not just the usual thing. "Hackers" caricaturally but still somewhat properly presents the phreaking cul…

> Awesome soundtrack Hackers is my go-to movie as an initial test for a home theater system.

Mine is the opening to Tron: Legacy. But Hackers is a good one as well.

Re: The movie Hackers was released 27 years ago

#88

Post by geoffbp » Fri, Sep 16, 2022, 3:51 PM UTC

hericium wrote: post #56

Hah. Just yesterday I was contemplating how awful Angelina Jolie's character's handle "Acid Burn" was. Like - who the fuck would choose such nickname for themselves? Other than that - cult movie. Love it. Awesome soundtrack, not that bad acting and not that bad script for back when computers and internet were hip, not just the usual thing. "Hackers" caricaturally but still somewhat properly presents the phreaking cul…

We have no names, man. No names. We are nameless!

Re: The movie Hackers was released 27 years ago

#89

Post by cantSpellSober » Fri, Sep 16, 2022, 3:52 PM UTC

pfarrell wrote: post #51

eimrine wrote: post #2

Hackers and Sneakers are maybe the only decent movies about so-called hackers.

I notice no on has mentioned "The Net". With good reason, if I remember correctly.

It's a great "cheesy movie night" movie. It's aged terribly, Angela is a 1337 hacker because she orders pizza ONLINE!

Re: The movie Hackers was released 27 years ago

#90

Post by eddieroger » Fri, Sep 16, 2022, 3:52 PM UTC

halper wrote: post #53

ramesh31 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Between Hackers, Masters of Doom, and other rad 90s hacker-coder media, software development really seemed like a much more awesome career than it turned out to be. I think it comes down to the fact that our industry has become rigid and beholden to the university education system. John Carmack and John Romero were both college dropouts. Their stories would probably be impossible today. What we have now is a world o…

I think it's because most tech jobs are not in tech. If you work for a bank, you work for bank. If you work for a fashion retailer, you work for a fashion retailer. I've worked for a big pension fund and it was exactly like one imagines. Many meetings, a quiet office, slow and boring. I've also worked for small tech-focussed companies with technical nerds as founders; they were rather different, with music, dogs, vod…

I used to think that, too, but be warned: SaaS companies quickly become beholden to the sales org, and all of a sudden, working for a "tech" company becomes working for all the industries you serve. Very few tech companies are pure tech anymore. Basically only the private ones like Valve.