Introducing Bill Gates, statesman

Keep your friends close, the old saying goes, but your enemies closer. That may be a lesson finally learned by Bill Gates, who held a dinner last night at his mansion outside Seattle in honor of Chinese President Hu Jintao on his first official visit to the United States.

China has long been at the top of the list of nations where software piracy runs rampant, especially where Windows is concerned. At the same time, however, the country represents one of the world's largest emerging technology markets--and, therefore, is key to Microsoft's future.

The reception bears even more significance for the company than the piracy issue, which some theorize has actually helped Windows by ensuring its proliferation worldwide. For Microsoft, the diplomatic overture represents a stark change from its isolationist policies of years past, when it studiously avoided politics in the naive hope that government would then leave it alone. Still, something tells us that Gates won't be running for office anytime soon.

Blog community response:

"Eventually, in his first official visit to the U.S., the Chinese president will make his way to the other Washington for a Thursday visit with President George W. Bush. But the fact that he visits Gates first speaks volumes, doesn't it?"
--PC Mike's e-Journal

"This seems like an amazing coup for Microsoft, a company that has had something of a resurgence in China over the past year or so, after several bleak years in the Chinese wilderness (and, perhaps not coincidentally, under the management of current Microsoft China CEO Tim Chen)."
--Imagethief

"Gates and fellow CEOs hope that Hu will show some gratitude for their contributions to his country's surplus by announcing new trade policies that will open China's markets to more of their products and services, and protect their trademark and intellectual properties from widespread piracy by Chinese 'entrepreneurs.'"
--The iPinions Journal