Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates wrote a letter to Steve Jobs that the Apple co-founder reportedly kept by his bed as he was dying in October.

Gates told the British newspaper The Telegraph, "I told Steve about how he should feel great about what he had done and the company he had built. I wrote about his kids, whom I had got to know." The letter followed a long visit by Gates some months earlier. "We spent literally hours reminiscing and talking about the future," he told the paper. Gates said the meeting and the letter came long after the two tech rivals had become less combative, publicly and privately.

Jobs died Oct. 5.

The letter followed a long visit by Gates some months earlier. "We spent literally hours reminiscing and talking about the future," he told the paper.

Gates said the meeting and the letter came long after the two tech rivals had become less combative, publicly and privately.

"There was no peace to make. We were not at war. We made great products, and competition was always a positive thing. There was no (cause for) forgiveness," he said.

Jobs' opinions of Gates at times could be harsh, as in his biography when he said the Microsoft founder was "unimaginative" and could have been better if he had dropped acid or gone to live on an ashram for a while as the Apple co-founder himself had.

But in a call from Jobs' wife, Laurene, after her husband died, Gates said, "She said; 'Look, this biography really doesn't paint a picture of the mutual respect you had.' And she said he'd appreciated my letter and kept it by his bed."