Robert Scoble gave me a huge present today (he writes about it here) - lunch with Bill Gates at Mix 06. All Robert told me (and two others - Albert Lai and Lynda Weinman) was to show up at a certain room at noon for a cool lunch. I was a bit preoccupied with a panel I was speaking on at 1:30 on business models for web 2.0 companies, and so didn’t give it much thought.

I knew something was up when I arrived because there was very heavy security, and then I was told that Bill Gates would be joining us. I asked a few questions, specifically about what Microsoft’s plans are around an online version of Office. Bill responded at length without really giving an answer. He did say that he thought people were too infatuated with the thought of an online version of Office, but that they were really focused on the idea of cloud storage for office files. This fits right in with their strategies around Office Live, of course (my posts on Office Live are here).

There were three pictures of me with Bill - which I’ve put up on flickr. Ok, yes, I was starstruck. Thank you very much Robert for putting this together!

Steve Gillmor and Mike Vizard grilled me yesterday in a short podcast interview. Listen to it here.

It’s hard talking to Steve. He doesn’t let you get away with unsupported statements, he challenges you. The interview didn’t go the way I had planned, but I have the feeling it went exactly as Steve planned. Hope you find it interesting.

Companies or products I discuss: Mechanical Turk, Pandora, Odeo, Inform.com. Windows Live, Yahoo Maps, Goowy.

Dave Winer posted a new Coffee Notes podcast. Bits of tagcamp coolness in there. Even more politics - Dave wonders when Scooter will start spilling the beans and moving this whole mess up the ladder at the White House. Near the end, Dave mentions the Microsoft press meeting on Tuesday. I’ll be there, can’t wait to hear the news.