Sure, their salaries are paltry relative to other tech titans, but don't expect to see Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer serving up fries at the local McDonald's any time soon.

Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission show that Microsoft co-founder Gates and CEO Ballmer each drew salaries of $600,000 in the fiscal year ended June 30.

Not too shabby, but you don't get to be the richest and 11th-richest Americans simply by squirreling away those paychecks. For that you need serious equity, and between them Gates and Ballmer own 14 percent of Microsoft shares.

A guy who keeps track of how large corporations compensate top executives is mightily impressed, according to this story.

"There (are) so many other founders — the main one being down the coast, with [Oracle founder] Larry Ellison — who have a great deal of money as well, but still pay themselves massive amounts by options every year," said Patrick McGurn, special counsel at Institutional Shareholder Services. "These guys have been on the side of angels with this particular issue."

McGurn might be going a little overboard with the angel stuff, but let's give props where they are due.