Google kicked our butts, Bill Gates admits

Mr Gates is referring to the success of the Google search engine compared to Microsoft's own search engine technology.

He also, apparently, acknowledged that Microsoft had misjudged just how successful open source software might be.

Yesterday, Microsoft agreed to show its source code to the Indian government, which has used the Linux lever to pry open the Windows Pandora Box in its arguments to see the code.

And there appears to be a wider acknowledgement of the success of open source in making these things happen. Martin Taylor, a Microsoft executive in charge of platform strategies, told internetnews.com yesterday that he hoped his firm had priced its products at such a level that "customers don't have to throw Linux in our face to get a discount".

According to AP, Gates also suggested that the problem of spam will be over in two years, and it's likely that monetary disincentives for spamsters will bring that miracle about. µ