Remember 1997? That was the year that Apple nearly died. Microsoft was in the middle of antitrust problems, Apple needed cash and an assurance that Office for Mac would be around a few years. From Wired:
The Apple faithful had already been conditioned to expect the unexpected when Jobs was in the house. But this surprise announcement, at Macworld in Boston, was pure Jobs theater. And it came with an oddly juxtaposed (satellite!) video feed of then-Microsoft CEO Bill Gates piped into the auditorium, dwarfing Jobs on stage.
Replayed in The Pirates of Silicon Valley, Gates looked altogether like an evil Big Brother. The money quote from that era came from interim CEO Steve Jobs:
We have to let go of a few notions here. We have to let go of the notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft needs to lose.
Worthy reading.