History YMMV / Antitrust

* HilariousInHindsight: The film is essentially one giant TakeThat at Microsoft, complete with their chief rival UsefulNotes/{{Apple|Macintosh}} providing ProductPlacement. This became ironic in two ways.

* CompleteMonster: [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Gary Winston]] is the owner and founder of NURV, masquerading as a [[VillainWithGoodPublicity charitable philanthropist]] to cover up the dark secrets of his company. Keeping NURV ahead of the competition by stealing code and intellectual property from others, Gary's true evil comes from the fact that he has dozens of promising minds on a watchlist, and murders any single one of them if their intelligence reaches the point of being a threat to NURV's technology supremacy. Killing well over half a dozen young programmers and threatening many more to ensure his position is never threatened, Gary tries to do the same to Milo Hoffman for investigating his crimes, and forces a delinquent woman to seduce Milo lest Gary send her back to prison on trumped-up charges.

** More importantly, if one fast-forwards to today, they will find that it's ''Apple'' that has come to define the modern image of the tech behemoth, being accused of a lot of the same stuff that Microsoft was at its peak and then some (having a near-monopoly on [=MP3=] players in the '00s, their infamous "terms of service" agreements). Looking back, one could compare Synapse, the evil, corporate-dominated network created by NURV, to the "gated community" that Apple has created for its [=iDevices=], especially in comparison to its open-source rival [[Creator/{{Google}} Android]]. Bill Gates, meanwhile, has seen [[PopularityPolynomial his reputation rehabilitated]] since his official departure from Microsoft, spending his time since then focused more on charity work with his wife Melinda.

** More importantly, if one fast-forwards to today, they will find that it's ''Apple'' that has come to define the modern image of the tech behemoth, being accused of a lot of the same stuff that Microsoft was at its peak and then some (having a near-monopoly on {{MP3}} players in the '00s, their infamous "terms of service" agreements). Looking back, one could compare Synapse, the evil, corporate-dominated network created by NURV, to the "gated community" that Apple has created for its [=iDevices=], especially in comparison to its open-source rival [[Creator/{{Google}} Android]]. Bill Gates, meanwhile, has seen [[PopularityPolynomial his reputation rehabilitated]] since his official departure from Microsoft, spending his time since then focused more on charity work with his wife Melinda.

* HilariousInHindsight: The film is essentially one giant TakeThat at Microsoft, complete with their chief rival UsefulNotes/{{Apple|Macintosh}} providing ProductPlacement. Fast forward to today, and it's ''Apple'' that's the defining image of the modern tech behemoth, being accused of a lot of the same stuff that Microsoft was at its peak (having a near-monopoly on {{MP3}} players in the '00s, for one) and then some (their infamous "terms of service" agreements, for another). Looking back, one could compare Synapse, the evil, corporate-dominated network created by NURV, to the "gated community" that Apple has created for its [=iDevices=], especially in comparison to its open-source rival [[Creator/{{Google}} Android]].
** Even earlier than that was the fact that the videotaped interviews on the film's official website could only be viewed using Apple's proprietary [=QuickTime=] format. What happened to your Open Source message, guys?

* HilariousInHindsight: The film is essentially one giant TakeThat at Microsoft, complete with their chief rival {{Apple|Macintosh}} providing ProductPlacement. Fast forward to today, and it's ''Apple'' that's the defining image of the modern tech behemoth, being accused of a lot of the same stuff that Microsoft was at its peak (having a near-monopoly on {{MP3}} players, for one) and then some (their infamous "terms of service" agreements, for another). Looking back, one could compare Synapse, the evil, corporate-dominated network created by NURV, to the "gated community" that Apple has created for its [=iDevices=], especially in comparison to its open-source rival Android.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: It was filmed during the height of the dot-com boom and hit theaters only a short time after the bubble started leaking. As such, the hacker and geek culture this film portrays is a snapshot of what it was like to have a good idea literally programmed in a garage and be able to get millionaire venture capitalists ready to front money on almost a moment's notice once they saw it. It also portrays the then-very-prevalent skepticism towards [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Microsoft]] back then, with Apple being little-regarded because of its waning market share.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece

* HilariousInHindsight: The film is essentially one giant TakeThat at Microsoft, complete with their chief rival {{Apple|Macintosh}} providing ProductPlacement. Fifteen years later, and it's ''Apple'' that's the defining image of the modern tech behemoth, being accused of a lot of the same stuff that Microsoft was at its peak (having a near-monopoly on {{MP3}} players, for one) and then some (their infamous "terms of service" agreements, for another). Looking back, one could compare Synapse, the evil, corporate-dominated network created by NURV, to the "gated community" that Apple has created for its [=iDevices=], especially in comparison to its open-source rival Android.

* HilariousInHindsight: The film is essentially one giant TakeThat at Microsoft, complete with their chief rival {{Apple|Macintosh}} providing ProductPlacement. Fifteen years later, and it's ''Apple'' that's the defining image of the modern tech behemoth, being accused of a lot of the same stuff that Microsoft was at its peak (having a near-monopoly on {{MP3}} players, for one) and then some (their infamous "terms of service" agreements, for another).

* HilariousInHindsight: The film is essentially one giant TakeThat at Microsoft, complete with their chief rival {{Apple|Macintosh}} providing ProductPlacement. Ten years later, and Apple's being accused of much of the same stuff that Microsoft got so much heat for in the late '90s, while establishing a near-monopoly on {{MP3}} players courtesy of the iPod.

* HilariousInHindsight: The film is essentially one giant TakeThat at {{Microsoft}}, complete with their chief rival {{Apple|Macintosh}} providing ProductPlacement. Ten years later, and Apple's being accused of much of the same stuff that Microsoft got so much heat for in the late '90s, while establishing a near-monopoly on {{MP3}} players courtesy of the iPod.