The world's richest man proved to be a real early riser and a very disciplined person. He left the Intercontinental Hotel yesterday morning at 8, heading the Global Technical Support Center he was to open later. He wouldn't talk to journalists crowding the hotel lobby and he only greeted them from a distance. The Microsoft co-founder made the latest preparations for the opening ceremony by 9, waiting for the Romanian guests, President Traian Basescu and PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu, to arrive. It all started just on time with Swiss clock punctuality and access to the building vigilantly controlled. During the opening ceremony Bill Gates mentioned his intentions to continue investments in Romania. PM Tariceanu provided a brief speech to the point, focussing on the IT "gray matter" exported by Romania. President Basescu preferred a more emotional speech. He awarded Bill Gates with the National Order the Star of Romania. The awarded said he was touched and honored due to the President's reference to the Bill&Melinda Gates Foundation, participating in charity activities all over the world. The Microsoft president confessed he had been lucky to get a fortune and wanted to help other people. While the ceremony was progressing indoors, lots of journalists and TV cameramen were freezing outdoors, opposite the GTS building, waiting for Bill Gates to come out. They waited for about two hours, together with three adolescents probably fond of computer games and curious retired people. There was an elderly lady asking around if the rich gentleman inside the building was hiring people. After long lasting eagerness, one could see the world's richest man getting into the car, briefly and smilingly. The car died away, accompanied by a homeless running besides it in frenzy. Windows Vista launch After the official opening of the GTS Bill Gates presented the Windows Vista, the most recent Microsoft product. He explained security was the top priority of the Microsoft in the latest years and argued the new Vista was the safest Microsoft system ever. He claimed that, if properly used, the system could work for hospital administration or in fields of greater importance, but it didn't solve problems automatically. (...) The Microsoft official reminded that some years before the company had used some Romanian solution to security belonging to the Gecad Company. (...) Romania won GST competition Once the official events were over, the US magnate talked to some Romanian officials. When leaving the GST building, the Romanian interior minister Vasile Blaga commented: "We have talked and we have invited him to attend a regional conference on cyborg crime due this year. Together with the Microsoft we are now implementing a system to watch investigations on Internet criminality, child porn. We have already proceed to evaluations and implementation with the policemen participating in this project." Police Chief Valentin Fatuloiu claimed Romania was winner of the competition on housing the launch of the GTSC: "It is good we have managed to establish this center in our country. We have won again today, as we have informed him about the government's objectives on the informatization of Romanian society, the villages included. We have his promise that the Microsoft will be a partner in the effort meant to help every Romanian get access to the Internet. We have talked about education projects, about what the electronic governing solution offers Romanians and about the national administration's efforts to reach electronic administration." Zsolt Nagy, a Romanian minister for technology and information, described Bill Gates as a communicative and open person. PM Tariceanu argued that the newly opened Microsoft center in Bucharest would be a good opportunity for the Romanian youth in IT working abroad to return to Romania and for the consolidation of the IT field as well. He expressed hope the Microsoft would significantly contribute to the development of the educational system here. Bill Gates left Romania yesterday at noon, after a visit taking less than one day.

Gilda POPA