Gartner brings out kid gloves for Gates

I feel a little bit cheated. Monday I watched Bill Gates interviewed by Gartner CEO Michael Fleisher at the Gartner ITxpo in San Diego. Hearing that this was an interview style keynote upped its appeal. No sterilized PowerPoint charting momentum, an informed analyst setting the agenda of the discussion, maybe even a brief glimpse of Gates squirming in the hotseat…..

But the tough questions never materialized.

The one question I wanted to hear– something, anything about open source– was not asked.

The focus of the talk was the future of technology. Gates spoke about the power of speech technology, Microsoft’s continued security efforts, and a bit about Longhorn’s expected arrival date. Gates smiled warmly when the subject was raised of his incredible philanthropy in world health.

Fleisher did pose one question about the EU’s recent penalty against Microsoft’s licensing practices. But not one toe tipped into the open source or Linux waters. If this were a Microsoft show I would expect that. But this is Gartner. Aren’t analyst firms supposed to be skeptical, asking the tough questions of vendors, spitting out the Kool-Aid after a quick sip?

Maybe Fleisher and Gates are old duck hunting buddies. Or maybe when an icon takes the stage at a major industry event you shouldn’t expect the world.

‘Wow, that was terrible’ one response in the roped off press seating area immediately after the Gates interview.

I’m looking over my notes for a good quote or two for my story. “The magic of software has been underestimated,” is one of the better ones unfortunately.

I didn’t think it was terrible. I was pleasantly surprised by Gates’ demeanor. I had heard he was not the best speaker. But I found him funny on occasion and engaging. Talking about how Microsoft is not interested in pursuing the services and system integration business, he quipped: “We are not in the services business, [as in] pay us 300 dollars and hour and we’ll show you where your brain is.” At another point in the talk, attempting to illustrate the usefulness of electronic ink and tablet computers he mimicked how awkward it would be to take a quick verbal note-to-self during a presentation. Gates playfully leaned into his microphone with a golf-commentator type whisper, “remember to send this slide to so-and-so.”

Maybe you had to be there.