A web site allows users to style Gates' hair

From Correspondent Marsha Walton

(CNN) -- Maybe it's his billions. Or the unflattering stereotypes of a computer nerd. Or a little green monster called jealousy. Or maybe even his software. Whatever it is, Bill Gates is the man many Internet denizens love to hate.

Indeed, cyberspace is bursting with sites that slam Microsoft's founder and the world's richest man.

For instance, surfers can give Gates new and unflattering hairstyles, or, less subtly, punch him straight in the kisser.

Web users can try their luck at hitting Gates with a pie

At one site, viewers try to stop Gates from dominating the world. At another, they get to whack him with virtual pies to the musical accompaniment of "The Nutcracker" -- a takeoff on a real-life incident earlier this year in Belgium, where the pie in Gates' face was anything but virtual.

There are a number of sites spoofing his company, and one that gives viewers an up-to-date calculation of Gates' wealth, based on the price of Microsoft stock.

And in perhaps the least subtle dig of all, there are sites explaining why Gates is really the devil -- in English, Spanish, German and Portuguese.

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CNN's Marsha Walton reports on the hateful locations
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How unpopular is Gates with some Internet aficionados? PC Week's Michael Surkan found out when he wrote a modest defense of Gates, pointing out that since the days of the Roman empire, people in power have attracted hostility.

Surkan's column generated more than a thousand angry e-mails.

However, Gates does have some online supporters. The Libertarian Party calls him a national hero. And another site, called Bill and Dave's Excellent Adventure, compares his influence to that of David Sarnoff, the man who guided the early days of television.