Last week I was in Seattle for a conference (Computer Human Interaction). Bill Gates gave the opening talk, and he came off nicer than I'd expected. He'd also gotten a haircut! Still, he can't quite escape his geeky image...his voice cracks a bit, and he's a wedding-ring fiddler. Imagine six huge screens at the front of the room, three of them showing an enormous Bill Gates with his hands in front of him, one constantly twisting his ring. He brought a few Microsoft people up to talk about their latest goings-on, and the first was a Scottish guy named Bill Hill. He was wearing a kilt. I don't think Bill G. understood a word he said.