You and I have memories that are longer than the road that stretches out ahead

Everyone and I mean everyone is blogging about D5 so I figured I had to hop on the bandwagon. We all knew that when Steve Jobs and Bill Gates got on stage together the tech industry would collectively take a time-out to listen in. However, usually when Steve or Bill talk (on their own) we are treated to company "spin" from two of the greatest business moguls to ever set foot on this planet. When their worlds collided over the last couple days at D5 they let the "Who's Who" of the tech industry finally see a more personal side. No elaborate product unveiling that Gates and particularly Jobs have excelled at. It was more like two great competitors looking back at their rivalry while soaking in the last few rays of their Golden Days.

Om Malik very eloquently summed up this personal look at Jobs and Gates in a great post that he wrote live at D5 for GigaOM http://gigaom.com/2007/05/31/steve-jobs-2-0/#comments. When the two finally sit down together Job's refers to their long standing rivalry/relationship in the context of the famous Beatles song the"Two of Us."

Om quotes Jobs in his dialogue to Gates as saying “You know, I tend to think of things as Beatles or Bob Dylan songs. There’s one Beatles song that goes, ‘You and I have memories that are longer than the road that stretches out ahead.’ That’s clearly the case here.”

Interesting enough, "Two of Us" was recorded live in 1969 at Apple Studios. It was just this year that Apple Inc. finally settled the rights of its trademark dispute with Apple Studios parent company Apple Corps. Many believe that the rights to Beatles' songs may have also been part of the deal and may appear soon on iTunes.

Neil Aspinall, manager of Apple Corps said at the time, “It is great to put this dispute behind us and move on."

Perhaps Jobs could use "Two of Us" to better describe that relationship.

Regardless, the reunion of these two rivals, which was anticipated to be a highly competitive debate (Wired magazine went as far as to compare it to a reunion the likes of Simon & Garfunkel); ended up more like Magic and Bird showing mutual respect late in their careers.

“When the new schedule would come out each year, I'd grab it and circle the Boston games. To me, it was The Two and the other 80.”--Magic Johnson

“The first thing I would do every morning was look at the box scores to see what Magic did. I didn't care about anything else.”--Larry Bird

Tell me that Gates and Jobs didn't circle this chance encounter on their schedule and that they don't check each other's stock every day....

Sooo Magic Vs Bird...