Gates does comedy turn at Comdex

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates looked to inject some humour into his Comdex opening keynote by way of a video on the history of the PC.

In reference to his company's widely acknowledged delay in climbing aboard the internet bandwagon, Gates said in a mock interview segment: "It was very clear to me that the internet was where everyone was going to be. It was especially clear to me after everybody had already gone there."

'Internet growth expert' and former US president Bill Clinton showed up on the video, as did 'DOS' rap star P. Diddy, who said: "It's a terrible operating system but musically it's very interesting. I used to have this record that I was working on and it went like C prompt, C the prompt ... but that really didn't go too well."

In a clear pop at rival software chief Larry Ellison from Oracle, the film ended by promising to look next time at the "exciting world of database software business", over footage of Ellison's America's Cup challenge boat.

Ellison came in for criticism during last week's Oracleworld event in San Francisco for addressing delegates over a satellite link from New Zealand, where his boat Oracle BMW is competing, rather than attending the customer conference in person.