Et Tu Melinda

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This is just one of those quotes the Microsoft PR people have to ride out and wait for a better day (they have plenty of practice).

Melinda Gates, in a new interview with Vogue, has a lot to say about the Gates Foundation and saving children in Africa - as it should be. However, she apparantly had a little bit to say about the iPhone and iPod.

"There are very few things that are on the banned list in our household," Gates tells me. "But iPods and iPhones are two things we don't get for our kids." Harsh, perhaps, but understandable. After all, it's hard to walk around tethered to merchandise made by your father's most famous competitor. Still, Gates acknowledges the inevitable lure of forbidden fruit. "Every now and then I look at my friends and say, 'Ooh, I wouldn't mind having that iPhone.'"

Melinda Gates From Vogue.com

Okay, life without an iPhone? Yes, that's possible. Although, I'm not a well-off adolescent holding my own in a ritzy American suburb. No one really cares what kind of mobile device I use. But no iPod!!! Someone may have to call the Department of Family Services (or whatever they call it in Washington State).

Those poor little Gates children.

And, that not so silently suffering Melinda Gates.

No one deserves a Zune for their tunes.

No word from the Ballmer family.

Renee Oricchio

Renee Oricchio is a technology writer and former supervising news producer for CNN Financial News. She has been covering the computer industry since 1987.