Are Steve Jobs and Bill Gates friends once again?

What do I mean..., "again"? They've never been enemies; in fact, they've been friends for decades, and although their get-together on the stage of the Wall Street Journal's D5 conference last week marked the first time (and perhaps the last) that they have been together answering questions on a stage since the 1980s, there has never been any real animosity between them.

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In fact in the 1980s, when the PC industry was in its infancy and the soon-to-be-famous pair weren't that far out of it, they occasionally went on "double dates" with their women of the moment, until Bill made the move to Seattle.

Since then they've occasionally met for pleasure (such as a dinner in 2003 for the same WSJ event). And for business? Well.. that's not known.

While their rivalry is intense and consists of much needling, at least from Jobs's side (he described the widespread use of the Mac-created iTunes by Windows users as "like offering a glass of ice water to someone in hell"), it is also marked by an acceptance of who shakes which branches of the tree.
They ceased being true rivals once Jobs was kicked out of Apple in 1985 and headed off to found NeXT Computer. At that time, Apple was still a bigger business than Microsoft, which only passed it in revenues in 1997 (see Microsoft's 10-year revenue chart, and Apple's,) building on the success of Windows95, while Apple was considered a basket case, financially speaking.

That also marked the last year the duo was seen on a stage together, though Gates then loomed huge via a telescreen over Jobs, who was explaining to the non-adoring Mac faithful that Microsoft had bought a $150m non-voting share in Apple. Well, what are friends for?

But last week's appearance marks a peculiar time for the computer industry. Gates is preparing to step down from Microsoft to focus on his charitable work; Jobs is a board member at Disney. A year from now, if they didn't have their common past, it's hard to imagine a scenario outside a film script in which they'd come together.

The transcript of their onstage talk shows Jobs in reflective mood: "When Bill and I first met each other and worked together in the early days, generally, we were both the youngest guys in the room, right? ... And now when we're working at our respective companies, I don't know about you, but I'm the oldest guy in the room most of the time."

And their final estimations of each other? "I think the world's a better place because Bill realised that his goal isn't to be the richest guy in the cemetery," said Jobs. And Gates? "I'd give a lot to have Steve's taste ... The way he does things is just different and, you know, I think it's magical."

The wars over.. and the friendship, has only just begun. Roll on both Microsoft and Apple (and the MAC BU at Microsoft!)