Either Bill Gates got up on the wrong side of the bed the day he sat down last week with Newsweek's Steven Levy to discuss Vista and other tech issues, or he needs a humor transplant.

I've got my money on No. 2, but you still think he could have better finessed Levy's question to him about Apple's recent commercials featuring a stodgy Gates look-alike representing a PC and a hip, thin dude representing Macs. Instead, Gates comes off as petty and resentful.

Here's the exchange:

Are you bugged by the Apple commercial where John Hodgman is the PC, and he has to undergo surgery to get Vista?

I've never seen it. I don't think the over 90 percent of the [population] who use Windows PCs think of themselves as dullards, or the kind of klutzes that somebody is trying to say they are.

How about the implication that you need surgery to upgrade?

Well, certainly we've done a better job letting you upgrade on the hardware than our competitors have done. You can choose to buy a new machine, or you can choose to do an upgrade. And I don't know why [Apple is] acting like it’s superior. I don't even get it. What are they trying to say? Does honesty matter in these things, or if you're really cool, that means you get to be a lying person whenever you feel like it? There's not even the slightest shred of truth to it.

Whoa. Calm down, dog! I am a Windows user, and thus the target audience for Apple's commercials. And I can assure Mr. Gates that I do not in any way feel they imply that I am a dullard or klutz. Other Windows users, perhaps. But not me.

And the rant about lying is just weird. It's almost Donald Trumpish. Dude, they're commercials, not Consumer Reports specials. And they're funny, without being overbearing. Furthermore, your company has a huge edge in O/S market share and you're the richest person in the world. And you're letting this bother you?