Whether Microsoft's current legal scuffles will lead to Mr Gates being portrayed as a wild west baddie, or whether his mogulhood will inspire a remake of Citizen Kane, is not yet known.

Mike Myers, playing Austin Powers. Remind you of anyone?

But at least one name who has been linked to the project is that of Mike Myers, who wrote and starred in last year's hit film, Austin Powers Man of Mystery.

The title of the film is believed to "20 Billion". The writer and director is rumoured to be Michael Tolkin, whose screenplay for the scathing Hollywood satire, The Player, was nominated for an Academy Award.

The most complete news available about the film so far came to light on the British-based Internet Movie Database.

The Net - a great source of rumours

According to its head, Col Needham, the information provided came from two different sources of movie information - both of them usually reliable.

He points out, however, that a lot can happen between now and next year - "details of a film's composition are only 100% reliable when it has been released".

According to the Movie Page Web site, "Mr Myers plays a billionaire computer software mogul whose company inadvertently causes the death of three coal miners.

"As he tries to dig out from a public relations nightmare and restore his image, he discovers that he may be able to help save the earth, which is in danger of obliteration by a comet."

However the plot turns out, the film is unlikely to refer to Mr Gates explicitly, but there are not many computer tycoons with $20bn to spare, and the uncanny - physical - resemblance between Bill Gates and the Austin Powers character would not escape many people.

It is unlikely that any satire would restrict itself to mocking Mr Gates, however. The computer industry is almost as full of colourful characters as Mr Tolkin's last target, Hollywood.

Larry Ellison, the billionaire CEO of Oracle Corporation, has received unflattering attention in a recent biography. A New York Times reviewer said he came across as "sexist, an egomaniacal prevaricator as calculating in his personal relationships as he is in he business dealings".

A role in a remake of Bugsy would be a cert

And Ross Perot, the billionaire who once owned computer services company EDS, founded a protest party in the US to contest the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections.

He dropped out of the race in 1992 because, he said, Republicans were planning to disrupt his daughter's wedding. He has also said that free trade backers and North Koreans had, at different times, tried to assassinate him.