For that to happen, however, Mr. Jobs must do what he failed to do last time: prevail over his old nemesis, Bill Gates, who sees entertainment as Microsoft’s next great frontier. Microsoft is working hard to make sure that the iPod is less like the Walkman and more like the Betamax, Sony’s videocassette format that was defeated in the marketplace by VHS.
A few days after Apple’s U2 extravaganza, Mr. Gates, Microsoft’s chairman, paced around his office overlooking the rolling hills of suburban Seattle and recalled another advertisement that Apple made 25 years ago. “When I.B.M. came out with their PC, Apple ran an ad saying, “Welcome,’ ” said Mr. Gates. “They haven’t yet run the ad welcoming us into the music business.
“Apple should,” he added.
[“Gates vs. Jobs: The Rematch” by Saul Hansell, The New York Times, Nov. 14 2004]
