This is the first time I am trying the video feature of WordPress. Please excuse the experimentation.
In 2001, Citrix employees were presented with this video across the world. It made a big impression. We still talk about it in Sydney from time to time. It was so unlike anything had produced before (or since).
The video follows the working life of a key executive looking to get a big deal while also getting ready for a night out with his wife at the opera. The plot is quite involved for a seven minute video. The business transaction always seems a bit complicated to me but then I am not in business. I am an engineer :).
The parts that make this video impressive is the vision of what is to come. Parts of this video have already become true. The most obvious match is Citrix Online GotoMeeting. Other areas are still elusive (like really good voice recognition). I remember my initial reaction to this video. I was impressed but also a bit concerned. It seemed like there was a chance that someone would think we would be able to deliver all this in the near future. I have a long history of not wanting to oversell or over promise what is possible.
Character wise, it has always bothered me how the main character, Jim, looks at his world. It is almost like everything is his personal servant and that all the best ideas have to come from him. I think the part that rubs me the wrong way each time is when he refers to a female colleague as “a gem” after she tries to do what he has just asked for. I notice that he does not call any of the men “gems” for the work they do. Petty, I admit. Only human after all.
I can tell you that the video was inspired from some vision work done from Apple and that it appears that the shoot happened in South Florida. As you can see from the production quality, Citrix did not hold back. It was probably the biggest production up to that time.
As the years have gone by I have grown to like this video more and more. That is part of the reason I now feel so compelled to share it with you.
If you have trouble getting the video to work, there are two other ways to view it. You can see it at YouTube or Akamai.
Live near Brisbane, Australia. Software developer currently focused on iOS and Android. Avid Google Local Guide
Red Circle Blog 
[…] by a team at Sun in 1994. It is in a similar format and style to the internally famous “Virtual Workplace” video produced in 2001. It is called the “Starfire” video and it tries to […]
I’ve seen the video in 2002 and been looking for it ever since. You expressed what I felt when I saw the video. I was so much impressed by the combination of all the technology shown that I often used to describe it to people al those years. Now I can use the pictures that go with it. It is a shame though the Youtube or Akemai video doesn’t show…Thnx