 There nothing much new to say
about Bill Gates... Journalists and biographers are forever striving to find new
superlatives to help separate the man who has single-handedly rewritten the modern world
of communication from all the other powerful business forces trying so hard to conquer the
planet. However, it's all been said, declared and promulgated until we found him on a
Florida golf course...
Few would reconise the richest man in the world with a
club in his hand. He is so modesytly dressed in a simple pair of Bermudas and, surprise,
surprise, his trainers.
When thinking of the immense Gates empire, various images
flash up from the memory. In George Orwell's novel, "1984," Big Brother watched
the world via television cameras in every home... Today's fan clubs of the celebrated old,
1968 series, "The Prisoner," meet up every year to delight in their, anonymous
hero who is "not a number, but a free man"...
And for nearly 40 years now, the seductive "Bond.
James Bond." has been saving the humanity from megalomaniac villains trying to rule
the world. In fact, "Tomorrow Never Dies," the ladies' favourite spy tackled a
madman who happened to be a media kingpin. Every one quickly understood that the
caricature of 007's foe was greatly influenced by the two great American media moguls -
Ted Turner of CNN and Bill Gates of Microsoft - with an added touch of Al Capone! Just a
humouristic game of cinema and literature for placing old wars in the third millennium.
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A humble golfer in
Bermudas and trainers with an iron grip on his irons.
Despite his on-going legal battle with the business
regulators of his country, Bill Gates remains a heavyweight in what is known as the New
Media - the intelligent compromise between a television channel and a Net website. The
result is a new race of viewers who become "active" (although not necessarily
more intelligent!) as they go beyond simply watching their screens to interrogate the
Website of the programme before them. And yet... there is no television in the mega-villa
of Bill Gates by Washington Lake, near Seattle…
Fancy talking about Bill Gates without
mentioning dollars or euros!
 At the end of the sunny morning,
the other golfers disregard the great white limo (from the half-dozen cars that he owns)
in the parking lot of the golf course of Orlando's Disneyworld in Florida. Accompanied by
just his wife, Melinda, and their chauffeur - eschewing any body-guards - the media midas
suddenly becomes just like you or me... He was trying to improve his swing. As he was
playing just ahead of me, I was able to admire the flow of his strokeplay. He has a 20
handicap, not helped by an over-heavy right-hand grip that should be addressed
immediately. But Bill Gates is Bill Gates and, therefore, his day on the links proved a
race against time. After just a paltry nine holes, he had to quit the green... and take
care of business. Jean-Claude Gambert
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