he worst gridlock inside CeBIT is the approach to the Microsoft area in Hall 2. The pedestrian traffic packs uncomfortably close as soon as the tall blue gateway comes into view, the sign perched atop asking, "Where Do You Want To Go Today?"

Through that blue gate, that's where. Several hundred people move as one; there is no turning back.

Today I got in. The birds were singing, the giant picture of the mountains beckoning, the sound of water rushing. As hundreds of people pressed forward like lemmings, and a woman's voice began singing, "Be a winner, you can be a winner," the tall interior gates resembling rock faces closed behind us, trapping us inside.

Then the mountains dissolved and Bill Gates appeared on the wide screen to tell us that soon the entire world will be connected with neural networks manufactured by Microsoft.

He smiled. He's had media training. He wore a sweater.

The crowd was silent during the fifteen-minute movie that followed, featuring a young German bicycle messenger who discovers Microsoft and with it, his dreams!

The bicycle messenger endures a rough introduction to Microsoftland. Every time he stops to study a Gates product (Windows 98, Back Office, Microsoft Office), he is sucked into the screen and rematerializes inside the world of the product, landing with a thump.

Then the revelation! The messenger decides he wants to be an IT executive!

Bill Gates returns, smiling, and invites everyone to network. And they do. Where do they want to go today? To the Microsoft Pavillion! Microsoft has just swallowed several hundred new customers. And the music is playing again.

"Be a winner, you can be a winner. . . "

-- Janice Castro