One's a Mac, the Other is a PC, but Really They Are the Best of Friends ; WORLD

Jun 01, 02:01 AM

Current Headlines: By Stephen Foley

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," Mr Jobs said, raising a laugh from a Silicon Valley audience, and a disbelieving look from Mr Gates. "PC guy is what makes it work, PC guy is great." Mr Gates gave his chin a sceptical rub: "Well, his mother loves him."

The ads, which in the UK star David Mitchell and Robert Webb, have been needling Microsoft all over the world, and prompted Mr 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. Steve Jobs sat in a black polo shirt and jeans, while Mr Gates had shined his shoes and gone for a casual striped white shirt.

And Mr Gates wasn't joking when he answered a question about his rival by saying: "I would give a lot to have Steve's taste." He added that while he may see a software problem as an "engineering issue", Mr Jobs "has an intuitive taste both for people and products that is very hard for me even to explain."

With Apple enjoying a resurgence in cool thanks to the success of its iPod, and with Micro-soft'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.

It is one of the technology in-dustry's great stories, from the time in the mid-Seventies when, within a few years of each other, they formed computer companies that would change the world. Attendees at the "All Things Digital" conference were treated to footage from an Apple event in 1983 when a long-haired Steve Jobs hosted a Blind Date style event with software executives, including Mr 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 Steve 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," Mr Jobs said.

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, Mr 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," Mr 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," Mr 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 Mr Gates is now concentrating on the philanthropic foundation giving away his $53bn ([pound]26.8bn) 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".

Steve Jobs, meanwhile, exuding cool as ever, 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."

(c) 2007 Independent, The; London (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.