Bill Gates: `I'm Humble. I'm Respectful'

It's not every day you meet the world's richest man. No wonder May Saeteurn and Vicky Hoang, 16-year-old student interns at the Tech Museum in San Jose, Calif., were excited. They begged William H. Gates III to pose with them for a snapshot during a Jan. 27 reception for the Microsoft Corp. chairman, one of the museum's benefactors. Afterwards, Hoang gushed about her encounter. Gates was so down-to-earth, she notes. Now she regrets a speech she gave at school recently, pegging Microsoft as a dangerous monopoly. "After seeing him," Hoang says, "I take back all I said."

If only it were so easy to sway the Justice Dept. For now there's a cease-fire, but the battle with trustbusters is far from over. Meanwhile, months of nasty publicity surrounding Justice's wrangle with the Redmond (Wash.) giant have draped the billionaire in the uncomfortable cloak of digital robber baron.