My Dinner With Bill Gates

Jeff Maurone, an intern at Microsoft, got to go to dinner with his boss, Bill Gates (and several dozen other employees). The evening began with a pleasant strip search:

We then left the buses and were subject to airport-level security. This included shoe-removal, metal detectors, random screenings, etc. After being subject to this, we all transferred to smaller shuttles.

... Inconspicuously placed at walkways was a casually dressed security team member wearing the secret service model of earpiece and silently saying, "nope, this way is off limits."

... the coolest part: a little girl coming down the stairs from where Bill came. I thought, "no way!" Turns out, I was right. It was his oldest daughter.... This is incredibly rare and nearly unheard of. His kids' names are not even published anymore because of security issues. The opportunity to see one of his children was very rare.

Four or five years ago at Comdex, I and several hundred other people spent the evening with Gates at a crowded, sweaty Las Vegas nightclub. Gates spent the entire night on the dance floor boogieing with a couple of his female PR minders. He had no visible security with him and no one bothered him. Tech columnist John Dvorak told me Gates has been dancing at Comdex for years, and for him, it's the highlight of the show. (Here's one report.) This was pre-9/11, of course, and Comdex is no more.