Rivals for three decades, the two executives have rarely appeared in public together and have generally been viewed as bitter rivals, despite occasional partnerships.
In front of about 600 technology executives at the D: All Things Digital conference, which was sponsored by The Wall Street Journal, the two executives attracted the attention usually reserved for rock singers and Hollywood stars.
However, attendees who came hoping for fireworks or a confrontation were disappointed. The mild tone to the session did not take anything away from the event and after discussing the past and present of the computing industry, the two were greeted with a standing ovation.
After the event was over a number of the attendees who are veterans of decades in the computer industry said the joint appearance was the most memorable moment of any of the many conferences they had attended.
Mr. Gates and Mr. Jobs largely pioneered the personal computer industry beginning in 1975 and 1976 and they spent part of the evening sharing memories of those days.
Today "we ship these computers with one or two gigabytes and nobody remembers 128 kilobytes," Mr. Jobs said.
Apple and Microsoft were business partners at the start of the computer era beginning in 1977 when Mr. Gates supplied a copy of the BASIC programming language for the Apple II computer. Later, Mr. Gates made an early bet on writing software for the Macintosh, two years before the computer was introduced in 1984.
Neither was willing to acknowledge the possibility that the personal computer era they helped create would end any time soon.
"The PC has proven to be very resilient," Mr. Jobs said.
At the same time they called themselves believers in the explosion of hand-held communications devices, also known as "Post PC devices."
Mr. Gates said he was sometimes frustrated by the fact that the players in the industry changed so quickly. "I miss it when people come and go. It's nice when people stick around and it gives us some context," he said. During a question and answer period at the end of the session both men were asked to comment on the other's strengths. Mr. Gates singled out Mr. Jobs intuitive aesthetic sense.
"I'd give a lot to have Steve's taste," Mr. Gates said, drawing laughter from the audience. "The way he does things, it's just different."
Mr. Jobs returned the compliment, noting that Mr. Gates skills at building business partnerships were something that eluded him in his first decade at Apple.
Asked to comment on today's computer industry and the youth culture that it markets to, both men pointed to examples of applications of computer technology that had been readily adopted by seniors.
Mr. Gates said that when he showed the Microsoft Surface, the touch computing system introduced on Wednesday to a group of chief executives at his home several weeks ago, he was surprised they were more enthusiastic about the product than he was. The executives, he noted came from a generation that was not comfortable with keyboards. They were particularly interested in a technology that allowed them to control things on a display screen by pointing and moving them directly with their fingers.
Neither man was willing to say harsh things about the other and Mr. Jobs summed up his feelings by quoting from a Beatles song: "'You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead,' that's clearly true here," he said.
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