Click here to watch a video of the event

"Don't miss this, people," implored Engadget.com, ahead of last night's "historic" meeting of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, the legendary co-founders of Microsoft and Apple.

"Who knows if this will happen again in any of our lifetimes … Who's got odds that they don't walk out and say 'Hi, I'm a PC.' 'Hi, I'm a Mac?'"

The PC-Mac thing (a reference to a recent Apple ad campaign) didn't transpire (regretfully) - neither did the verbal fisticuffs some observers were no doubt secretly hoping for.

Rather, it appeared to be an evening of sentiment, industry insight and not a little needling - in that order.

According to the Mercury News, the website of the Silicon Valley daily, at points, "both men seemed choked up by the emotion of the moment."

Meanwhile, as the Wired.com's business blog reported, "the real jewels of information were revealed in the separate interviews with [the Microsoft chief executive] Steve Ballmer, who confirmed that Microsoft will “not” be rolling out a cell phone, and ... [Mr Jobs] who admitted to reading the Fake Steve Jobs blog - and finding it "pretty funny”.

But there was, as allthingsd.com recorded, some insight from the gathered gurus on, for instance, what devices consumers "might carry around five years from now".

Gates: I think you’ll have a number of devices. A tablet and then another smaller one that you can carry around in your pocket. Those are natural form factors.

Jobs: The PC has been very resilient. Its death has been predicted many times. But the internet came around and invigorated it. And then it plateaued again. And then digital media came around and invigorated it again. And so I think the PC is going to continue to be with us. But then there’s an explosion in post-PC devices. There’s a category of devices that aren’t general purpose. They’re more focused and that category is going to continue to be very innovative.

Mr Jobs also hinted that “.mac” - Apple’s package of online services such as e-mail and web storage - is about to be overhauled.

The pair also discussed mobile phones, flexible displays, the internet and the nimbleness of large companies versus small start-ups - all of which can be found here.

Times Recommends

• Food prices rise 8.3% on soaring fish and meat
• Car sales crash as economy hits skids
• House prices fall but Bank leaves rates on hold