Associated Press | April 18, 2006
By Allison Linn

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates told Chinese President Hu Jintao the company is at "just the very beginning of what's possible" in technology, and then showed him some of what may lie ahead.

Hu's visit included a tour of Microsoft's Home of the Future, which features experimental technology that might someday be used in people's living spaces. In one demonstration, a vase with a radio frequency identification tag was placed on a display, prompting the display to show pictures of areas where Hu has worked and lived.

In the kitchen, the counter displayed a recipe and instructions in Chinese for making foccacia bread, prompting Hu to ask if you still need a housekeeper if you have RFID tags.

Later, watching a demonstration on a Tablet PC of research being done in Asia, Hu noted that it is difficult to type equations, and being able to write with a stylus makes it easier to do such work on a computer.

Hu later was greeted by elementary school children from Seattle's John Stanford International School. At another demonstration of the Tablet PC, Hu wrote for the children, in Chinese, "Long live the China-American friendship." 

He then said "thank you" to the children in English. 

Later he said to Gates: "I admire what you have achieved at Microsoft," Hu said. 

"Because you, Mr. Bill Gates, are a friend of China, I'm a friend of Microsoft," he said. 

"Also, I am dealing with the operating system produced by Microsoft every day," he added, amid laughter. 

"I certainly look forward to the extension of your cooperation with China," Hu said. 

Hu also said he would certainly welcome a further increase in Microsoft's investment in China. 

"I'd also like to take this opportunity to assure you, Bill Gates, that we will certainly our words in protecting intellectual property rights," Hu said. 

Gates responded: "Thank you, it's a fantastic relationship. And if you ever need advice on how to use Wkindows, I'll be glad to help."

Agence France-Presse (AFP) | Apr 20, 2006

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates made a cryptic remark about Internet freedom at a luncheon with Chinese President Hu Jintao, underscoring the sensitivity of the issue. 

"This new era of an Internet-based economy also presents new challenges to us all," Gates said in a speech that preceded Hu's to a gathering of about 600 people at a luncheon hosted for the visiting Chinese president.

"It is my belief that industry and government around the world should work even more closely to protect the privacy and security of Internet users, and promote the exchange of ideas, while respecting legitimate government considerations."

The statement appeared to be urging China to respect the rights of Internet users, but also seemed to suggest Gates thinks "legitimate" government worries need to be taken into consideration, without defining legitimate.

Lou Gellos, a Microsoft spokesman, declined to say later what Gates meant or reveal whether Gates had raised the issues of Internet censorship with the Chinese leader on the first stop of Hu's official visit to the United States. 

But former Washington state governor Gary Locke and Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said no one raised the issue of human rights with Hu during the two-day visit in the Seattle area. 

Hu left Washington Wednesday afternoon to fly to the US capital for a summit with Bush on Thursday. 

China's government routinely jails people for posting politically sensitive essays online, including those critical of the Communist Party, and regularly shuts down or censors websites for sensitive content, including any mention of Taiwan independence or the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement. 

Software giant Microsoft and search engines Google and Yahoo have all faced criticism for doctoring content on their Chinese services and products to suit Beijing's strict censorship rules. 

Further, Yahoo has faced international condemnation for providing information to authorities that led to the jailing of two online dissident writers.

Microsoft has written and is currently campaigning for spyware legislation that may end up giving software companies access to consumers’ computers, according to the Oklahoma Gazette. 

The bill, known as the Computer Spyware Protection Act, would impose heavy fines on any person or company that is caught accessing a computer without obtaining permission from the owner. However, once a computer user authorizes software updates and accepts a user’s agreement, the software will be allowed to do anything in order to detect or prevent illegal or fraudulent activity. 

In other words, Microsoft will be allowed to install and run software that searches for pirated copies of Excel, Word, or any other pirated software and remove those programs if it could be considered fraudulent or illegal. Technically, software companies could go as far as tracking user behavior or scan through a computer’s hard drive to search for any type of illegal activity. For example if Microsoft scanned through a computer’s browser history and found out that someone plays poker online, they could notify authorities. 

Proponents of the bill claim that it will protect computer users from spyware and hackers. However, privacy experts are criticizing the bill because they argue that it will give software companies the legal authority to take control over people’s computers.