"I don't see how the Government can come in and help settle the score after these guys have lost in the marketplace," he said, referring to Silicon Valley companies like Sun, the Netscape Communications Corporation and the Oracle Corporation, which are Microsoft's most bitter enemies.
That view is apparently shared by a majority of Americans. A CNN-USA Today poll by the Gallup organization that was reported on Tuesday found that 56 percent of 1,039 adults interviewed last weekend had a favorable opinion of Gates, compared with 55 percent in March before the antitrust trial began.
Of those polled, 44 percent said they sided with Microsoft in the trial, while only 28 percent backed the Justice Department.
Some at Comdex portray Gates's problem as simple politics. Microsoft, they say, has failed to educate the Government on how the software industry differs from other, more traditional American businesses.
"Microsoft is an extremely competitive company, like many others," said Paula Gil, an alliance manager at Best Software, a company in Reston, Va., that develops business software. Since going public last year, Best has seen the value of its stock almost double.
Ms. Gil, who expresses great admiration for Gates, recalled that when she heard him speak years ago, an audience member asked whom he feared most as a competitor. Without hesitation, she said, Gates answered that it was somebody working in a garage on a new idea that he had never heard about.
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