Exactly how much of the world does Bill gates need to own before he can be satisfied?

This week, the government charged that Bill Gates “masterminded” a plan to eliminate Netscape Communication Corp. after they refused a deal that would essentially divide up the market between them.

Bill Gates denied that he had anything to do with the plan. After all, isn’t Microsoft an enormous company with many interests? He couldn’t possibly know everything.

This is what is known as “plausible deniability.”

Memos proved that Gates had not only known but concocted a plan to give Netscape a large sum of money as some kind of buyout plan. Gates also suggested the possibility of getting Netscape to give up the market for browsers, thus proving that he was indeed aware of these attempts and personally involved.

Bill Gates is often portrayed by many as an “evil geek genius.” This caricature does not do him justice.

Just because he does not come off all suave and good-looking while he is trying to corner the computer software market does not mean that he is completely harmless.

The future of the world is in computers.

Though it may seem like they are everywhere now, this is only just the beginning.

Eventually, every aspect of our lives will be intrinsically meshed with computers, and the man who gets the greatest advantage today will be sitting in the catbird’s seat from now until kingdom come.

Bill Gates may not be an evil geek. But like the robber barons of our past, he is insightful, innovative and ruthless when it comes to business. He bears watching.

What he cannot easily achieve in the United States is a matter of some ease overseas.

By going in the back door presented by other countries, he can close the door for other software companies by seriously undermining their ability to compete in the world market.

Anti-trust cases such as this one are absolutely essential to make sure that American businesses can compete on a level playing field.

While Bill Gates insists on maintaining his innocence in the face of such obvious and upstanding opposition, this case will continue to affect us all.

Just give up now, Bill. How much is enough, anyway?