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They didn't introduce themselves by saying "Hello, I'm a Mac", "and I'm a PC" - but the cheeky Apple adverts ribbing Microsoft were never far from the surface as the tech companies' founders, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, appeared on stage together for the first time in a
decade.
"The art of those commercials is not to be mean. It's for the guys to like each other," Jobs said, raising a laugh from a Silicon Valley audience, and a disbelieving look from Gates.
The ads, which in the UK star David Mitchell and Robert Webb, have been needling Microsoft all over the world, and prompted Gates earlier this year to say Apple was spreading lies. And while the atmosphere was more cordial as the two agreed to a historic joint interview at a technology conference in Carlsbad, California, it was hard not to think of the ads.
With Apple enjoying a resurgence in cool thanks to the success of its iPod, and with Microsoft's operating system Vista being panned by users, the ads are the latest chapter in a stormy relationship punctuated by breakups and kiss-and-make-ups.
Attendees at the "All Things Digital" conference were treated to footage from an Apple event in 1983 when a long-haired Jobs hosted a Blind Date style event with software executives, including Gates, who were vying to design software for his computers; he picked all three.
And there was also a reminder of the last time the two appeared together, officially burying the hatchet after Jobs returned to rescue Apple from oblivion in 1997.
The 90-minute conversation that followed was definitely in the kiss-and-make-up mould. "Bill built the first software company in the industry. And I think he built the first software company before anybody in our industry knew what a software company was," Jobs said.
iPod vs Zune
They did trade a few jabs, not least about the iPod, which Microsoft is trying to replicate with a product called Zune. The Zune developers love Apple for having created the mass market for digital music, Gates said, trying to play nice; Apple loves Zune developers because, like everyone else, they all have iPods.
But mainly they joined forces to defend the home computer, which is under threat from a host of other devices. "The death of the personal computer has been predicted every few years," Jobs said. "PCs are going to continue as a general purpose device, whether in a tablet form or a notebook or a big curved desktop you have in the house."
With Google and other upstart rivals snapping at their heels, the men looked back ruefully at their long histories. "When Bill and I first worked together," Jobs said, "we were both the youngest guys in the room. Now I am the oldest." He quoted the Beatles: "'You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead' - that's clearly true here."
The pair were given a rock star welcome. And while Gates is now concentrating on the philanthropic foundation giving away his $53-billion fortune, he was as prone to geeky flights of fancy as ever. He predicted a home where "every horizontal and vertical surface will have a projector for information".
Jobs, meanwhile, took a long pause before giving his unwavering answer to questions of futurology: "I don't know. And that's what makes it exciting to go into work every day."
- THE INDEPENDENT
