# General Magic documentary

6 Hacker News commenters recommended General Magic documentary and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** A fly-on-the-wall documentary about the early 1990s General Magic company, recommended as a dramatic, well-told look at a prescient tech effort.

## Why people recommend it

- Dramatic, tense, well-told story (2 comments): "The movie created drama and tension and told a neat story." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50247534)) "Both stories are absolutely legendary !" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48153134))
- Pairs well with the book (2 comments): "the documentary "General Magic" and the book "Fire in the Valley" -- is a great way" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47060899)) "Both stories are absolutely legendary !" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48153134))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [You Can See Everything](https://hackerapproved.com/p/you-can-see-everything.md): 39 recommend
- [The Thinking Game](https://hackerapproved.com/p/thinking-game-documentary.md): 15 recommend
- [HyperNormalisation by Adam Curtis](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hypernormalisation.md): 14 recommend
- [It's Quieter in the Twilight](https://hackerapproved.com/p/it-s-quieter-in-the-twilight.md): 12 recommend
- [BBS: The Documentary](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bbs-the-documentary.md): 11 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "General Magic documentary", https://hackerapproved.com/p/general-magic/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).