The Emperor's new clothes

Think of Bill Gates and the last vision most people will conjure up is that of a nice, friendly type who you can rely upon.

But think of Bill Clinton and another picture emerges. He may be a liar, an adulterer and a cheat, but, hey, he's human, and perhaps even a touch too vilified by Starr and his cohorts.

At least that would seem to be how things work in the US, where the recent mid-term election results confirmed the US president as popular as ever.

Gates, on the other hand, remains the victim of widespread hate. Apart from the anti-trust suits that have provided a forum for companies such as Apple and Netscape to dish the dirt and Websites casting Gates as Satan, the Microsoft boss is further demonised in animated TV series The Simpsons and in The Guardian's Doonesbury cartoon strip.

Much of the anti-trust criticism may well be justified, alhough it is probably also fuelled by envy at Gates' status as the world's richest man and his general disdain for his critics. But it could be that Microsoft's spin doctors are about to do for Gates what Clinton's PR pals did for him - namely turn adversity into opportunity and reposition him in the public psyche as a decent, all-American guy who shouldn't be despised merely because he's successful.

One clue came when Microsoft recently jetted in a bunch of journalists and other guests to its Seattle headquarters. While it was ostensibly to hear about such things as the company's latest wheeze, the Digital Nervous System - destined to help Microsoft and its partners leverage the burgeoning e-commerce market - the first item on the agenda was something completely different.

Nothing to do with Plato or how NT5 will ship sometime in the millennium after next, but instead a cosy chat about Microsoft's 'corporate culture and principles'. What the company was just as keen to discuss was its benighted hiring practices and how it helps to improve local economies. All that was missing was Gates singing Val Doonican ditties around the fireplace, clad in a knitted cardigan.

But there are other signs that Microsoft is going on the charm offensive, with well-publicised donations to schools and colleges, sponsorship of the arts and, here in Blighty, the funding of new research facilities at Cambridge University.

And whereas in the past Microsoft's spin doctors have just brushed off criticism as mere envy, the tone is changing as threats that the company could be dismantled - much in the same way that the Bell phone corporation was many years ago - become more tangible.

If Microsoft's Christmas cards this year depict Gates as a bespectacled Teletubbie, a sort of warm, furry creature you'd love to take to bed, you'll know he's seriously worried about his image. Otherwise the ploy should work - as long as Monica Lewinsky doesn't get to take him upstairs.

Dave Evans is a freelance IT journalist.