Micro Persuaders Gather ‘Round Gates

The world’s wealthiest man is getting his groove on. First he hangs with The Secret Machines at a Zune release party, now he’s kickin’ it with the digerati.
According to Steve Rubel’s report, Jeremy Zawody, Michael Arrington, Liz Gannes, Niall Kennedy, Chris Pirillo, Molly Holzschlag, Evan Williams, Shaun Inman and others were in the presence of Bill Gates for a an hour yesterday.
Here are some of the questions they asked him, and his answers:

Q) Do you despair at the number of Macs in the room?
A) We’re happy about it. We sell a lot of software for the Mac!
Q) What’s on your Zune?
A) All of the U2 stuff plus a lot more musicals than you might expect – for example, Wicked.
Q) Microsoft has fully embraced blogging in its communications. You have met with bloggers on a few occasions too. Why do you think other execs have not given bloggers the same level of access Microsoft has?
A) It’s natural we would put more energy into working with bloggers. We’re just an R&D company … We need lots of feedback. We need to be very transparent in what we’re doing. It’s a more intimate relationship than most companies have. Other CEOs may be afraid they will be too stuffy or confrontational. It’s not as critical for them. Some should do it more. Its just a choice.