President Obama dined this past week with several power players from the technology world.  As expected, this private event held at the home of John Doerr, a partner with Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, & Byers generated significant public relations buzz for the business leaders in attendance. 

The picture above is from Mashable's article: Obama Toasts Tech with Industry Luminaries [PICS].  Here are articles from The New York Times Technology Section and additional sources describing the exclusive guest list:

• The Mystery of Obama's Dinner with Tech Executives
• Top Silicon Valley Execs to Meet with Obama
• San Francisco Chronicle: Obama Dines with Tech Stars of Silicon Valley
• Los Angeles Times: Official List of Obama Tech Meeting — CEOs of Twitter, Netflix, Oracle, Yahoo, Others

Here's my question:

• Where's Bill Gates? 
• Where's Steve Ballmer? 
• Where's Microsoft?

I'm not the only one who noticed. 

Search Engine Land and ZDNet provide more "read-between-the-lines" analysis of the alleged, univited technology CEOs.  Via Larry Dignan's post, Obama's Big Tech Powwow Invite List: A Few Stunning Omissions:  

• Sam Palmisano, CEO of IBM
• Leo Apotheker, CEO of HP
• Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon
• Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft
• Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com

Microsoft's absence is glaring.  And, a picture speaks a thousand words …

Photo Credit: Mashable