The most dangerous man in Silicon Valley

That's what Robert X Cringely called Steve Jobs in Accidental Empires. He called Gates the Demo God in the same book. Role reversal anyone?

Wired says it's the Biggest Reunion Since Simon & Garfunkel but I'd prefer to go more local with Paul and John. Sadly the latter will never happen of course but seeing Steve and Bill (or is it Bill and Steve) on stage together this week as the D conference is a hot ticket - and not just with geeks. Regardless of their feuds and war of words over the years and even those naff Mac ads, these two guys have dominated the IT industry for 30 years. Frankly I'm interested in listening to one of them on stage but both together should be a real treat.

Fake Steve is doing a great job of whipping up the crowd and it promises to be the ultimate showdown. The king of cool against the ubergeek. Wired set the scene nicely with some historic quotes:

Gates on Jobs:

"Do you really think Steve Jobs has got anything there? I know his technology, it's nothing but warmed-over Unix." Attributed in On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple , by Gil Amelio, 1998

 

Jobs on Gates:

"I am saddened, not by Microsoft's success -- I have no problem with their success. They've earned their success, for the most part. I have a problem with the fact that they just make really third-rate products." -- Triumph of the Nerds, PBS documentary, 1996 (Ed. note: According to an Aug. 8, 1997 New York Times story, Jobs later called Gates to apologize for his comments in the film.)

I think they've both matured somewhat since then and I actually think Bill will do pretty well in a Q&A format - he thinks fast on his feet and is actually a pretty funny guy. Steve is the master showman and I love his presentations. Can he make it work in Q&A? We shall see.

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