Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Oh, the outrage they incite. So much as mention the name Bill Gates around a Mac-olyte, and you’re promised to get 10 minutes of intolerable screeching that will include the words “devil” and “nerdy little goober.” Same vitriol goes the other way around, too, except substitute the references to: “pompous prick” and “substance-less prick.”

Me, I don’t have a horse in the race. I prefer Macs and my iPod gives me the tinglies — but Bill Gates certainly does some nice stuff for the poor. Can’t fault a man for that. I’m more interested in the human drama between the two — their differences in personality and approach; how their rivalry sparks (and sometimes hinders) large-scale technological progress; what preferring one to the other says about you, etc etc. It’s juicy material that made for a kinda watchable Noah Wyle flick… no easy feat.

So, today, a side-by-side comparison of these two corporate titans in action. Tell me whose public style you prefer and why in the comments section, and please please please don’t turn this into a “Mac sux,” no, “Windows sux” geek-fest. In fact, don’t write “sux” at all. It’s not a word. Thank you.

This first video is from 1984, at a Macintosh unveiling. Two things to watch for: 1) Jobs’ smuggitude in extremis (not hard to pick up on), and 2) the crowd’s going absolutely ape-poop at the four minute mark.

And here Jobs is some years later discussing — again, with an air some might call haughty (”some” referring to those with eyes and barely registerable brain function) — a key problem with Windows:

Compare that performance to Gates’ in the early days:

One last Jobs video, this one a clever — and probably time-extensive — remix of his favorite expressions:

Next, two Bill Gates YouTubes. The first is a reaction to a mid-demo flub-up, and the second most likely offers the best opportunity we’re going to get to seeing Bill Gates seriously peeved.

And, for no reason, here’s Bill Gates getting shot in the South Park movie:

Before I go, a quick note about next week’s YouTube Hunter entry, which will be a 2006 Election Round-Up. If any commercials or events on the campaign trail this year struck you as particularly noteworthy (think macaca), please send them over, because next week we’ll be celebrating the first YouTube election by running down the best video-captured moments of Midterms ‘06.

‘Til then…