dov
October 17th, 2005, 04:02 PM
Bill Gates will be in Israel for one day, October 25, which is the day of Simchat Torah. Excitement over the visit by the world's richest man is costing Microsoft's workers, companies and suppliers to lose hair by the handful. Not many of the hi-tech community would miss the opportunity to be at the mass meeting with Gates, arguably one of the world's most influential men. That has made the great man's itinerary a tad crammed.
Gates will actually arrive on the evening of the 24th and start with an 8:00 breakfast with business leaders, including Amikam Cohen of Partner Communications (LSE, TASE, Nasdaq: PTNR), Pele-Phone Communications manager Jacob Gelbard, Teva (TASE, Nasdaq:TEVA) CEO Israel Makov, the accountant-general Yaron Zelekha, Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI ) CEO Zvi Ziv, Verint Systems (Nasdaq:VRNT) manager Danny Bodner, EL AL (TASE: ELAL ) chairman Izzy Borovich, Pitango's co-leader Chemi Peres, Maccabi Health Services general manager Yehoshua Shemer, Migdal Insurance (TASE: MGDL ) CEO Izzy Cohen, and the manager of the Israel Aircraft Industries, Moshe Keret.
He will be arriving on a Microsoft plane from France. The plane will remain at Ben Gurion International Airport until his departure. He will be staying at the presidential suite of the David Intercontinental Hotel in Tel Aviv, which is going at the reasonable rate of $2,000 a night. He gets the same bed that former U.S. president Bill Clinton and superstar singer Madonna slept in. Gates' people in Israel say he made no special requests, not even for a computer.
But the operations manager at the hotel, Zeev Keren, noticed that Gates' 50th birthday is just four days after his stay, on October 28. As a surprise the hotel will have a birthday cake in his room.
Only two politicians get to meet him: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Industry and Trade, and Finance, minister Ehud Olmert. The meeting with Olmert has been scheduled for 35 minutes, after which the two will make a joint statement. The meeting with Sharon will be at the end of the visit: the venue, Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, has yet to be set.
Gates will not be visiting the Microsoft development center in Haifa. But upon landing, he will be holding a personal meeting with the general manager of Microsoft Israel, and will also have a group meeting with the company employees.
Exactly 35 minutes have been set aside for the press conference. Journalists must file their questions in advance.
He will not be at all six conferences convening in honor of "Bill Gates Day". He is expected to speak to an audience of about 2,500, on "The new work space", consisting of his vision regarding the future generation of software for IT workers.
Oudi Antebi, an ex-Israeli now at the Microsoft headquarters, will also be on stage and will demonstrate a new Microsoft product during Gates' speech.
Yaron London and Motti Kirschenbaum, who host a popular talk show on Channel 1, will chair a panel called "The New Working World".
As is customary for visits from the leaders of friendly nations, his organizers tried to shove in a short stint at the Wailing Wall and maybe even Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Memorial Authority). Gates passed and will visit with kids who love computers instead. Education Minister Limor Livnat and her director-general Ronit Tirosh want to tag along.
As soon as he leaves Israel, Gates flies to Jordan, to meet with King Abdullah. This will be his first visit to Israel and to Jordan as well, but he won't be meeting with leading Jordanian businessmen. After the meeting with the king, Gates flies to Europe.
Gates will actually arrive on the evening of the 24th and start with an 8:00 breakfast with business leaders, including Amikam Cohen of Partner Communications (LSE, TASE, Nasdaq: PTNR), Pele-Phone Communications manager Jacob Gelbard, Teva (TASE, Nasdaq:TEVA) CEO Israel Makov, the accountant-general Yaron Zelekha, Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI ) CEO Zvi Ziv, Verint Systems (Nasdaq:VRNT) manager Danny Bodner, EL AL (TASE: ELAL ) chairman Izzy Borovich, Pitango's co-leader Chemi Peres, Maccabi Health Services general manager Yehoshua Shemer, Migdal Insurance (TASE: MGDL ) CEO Izzy Cohen, and the manager of the Israel Aircraft Industries, Moshe Keret.
He will be arriving on a Microsoft plane from France. The plane will remain at Ben Gurion International Airport until his departure. He will be staying at the presidential suite of the David Intercontinental Hotel in Tel Aviv, which is going at the reasonable rate of $2,000 a night. He gets the same bed that former U.S. president Bill Clinton and superstar singer Madonna slept in. Gates' people in Israel say he made no special requests, not even for a computer.
But the operations manager at the hotel, Zeev Keren, noticed that Gates' 50th birthday is just four days after his stay, on October 28. As a surprise the hotel will have a birthday cake in his room.
Only two politicians get to meet him: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Industry and Trade, and Finance, minister Ehud Olmert. The meeting with Olmert has been scheduled for 35 minutes, after which the two will make a joint statement. The meeting with Sharon will be at the end of the visit: the venue, Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, has yet to be set.
Gates will not be visiting the Microsoft development center in Haifa. But upon landing, he will be holding a personal meeting with the general manager of Microsoft Israel, and will also have a group meeting with the company employees.
Exactly 35 minutes have been set aside for the press conference. Journalists must file their questions in advance.
He will not be at all six conferences convening in honor of "Bill Gates Day". He is expected to speak to an audience of about 2,500, on "The new work space", consisting of his vision regarding the future generation of software for IT workers.
Oudi Antebi, an ex-Israeli now at the Microsoft headquarters, will also be on stage and will demonstrate a new Microsoft product during Gates' speech.
Yaron London and Motti Kirschenbaum, who host a popular talk show on Channel 1, will chair a panel called "The New Working World".
As is customary for visits from the leaders of friendly nations, his organizers tried to shove in a short stint at the Wailing Wall and maybe even Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Memorial Authority). Gates passed and will visit with kids who love computers instead. Education Minister Limor Livnat and her director-general Ronit Tirosh want to tag along.
As soon as he leaves Israel, Gates flies to Jordan, to meet with King Abdullah. This will be his first visit to Israel and to Jordan as well, but he won't be meeting with leading Jordanian businessmen. After the meeting with the king, Gates flies to Europe.