LETTERS

THE WAR BETWEEN MICROSOFT AND NETSCAPE

"Men built the Internet and left it in the public domain. Along came Gates and Barksdale, acting like turn-of-the-century robber barons." ROBERT C. LIND Hibbing, Minnesota

Microsoft reminds me of the boxer Muhammad Ali in his prime [BUSINESS, Sept. 16]. Ali's opponents could never figure out how someone so big could move so fast. Just as Ali reinvented himself to win most of his epic battles inside the ring, so has Microsoft reinvented itself to win the Internet war against Netscape and others. This war is far from over, but with the focus, vision and competitive instinct of Bill Gates to lead the way, Microsoft's primacy in the software arena should continue for a long time to come. HASAN ZILLUR RAHIM San Jose, California

Your bathetic cover and cover story insinuate that a better mousetrap may somehow confer ownership of the Internet upon Microsoft's CEO. Why don't I, a Windows 95 and Netscape user, feel threatened by your ridiculous proposition that control of the information age rests on the outcome of a browser war between a benign James Barksdale and a threatening, Pattonesque Bill Gates? Let them build and offer their mousetraps to the market, which welcomes and benefits from the competition between the two. JOSEPH D. ADAMS Painter, Virginia Via E-mail

Because of the introduction of new technology in the communications and information sector, Big Business is now subjected to corporate warfare. Your cover picture of Bill Gates surrounded by the Web displays this perfectly. Microsoft, the biggest soldier in this war, has proved itself many times on the computer-technology battleground. Now Microsoft finds itself fighting on a new front, which is what millions of Americans know today as the Net. Gates' enemy is Netscape.

Microsoft is definitely a well-armed player, but it is using unfair tactics. With the offer of free software and Web navi gators, Gates is trying to dismember Netscape and run it off the field. Of course, survival of the fittest always applies. Microsoft should relax and give other struggling companies a fair chance in this Net software battle. WARREN M. GRENNAN Pleasantville, New York Via E-mail

I was disappointed that no mention was made of Microsoft's latest attempt to thwart Netscape's growth: re-engineering the Windows NT product to decrease the number of users who can browse the Net simultaneously. Microsoft knew that Netscape was very popular in the Windows NT environment, and crippled its own product to try to limit Netscape's success. I think business should be about creating the best product and fair competition in the marketplace, not about using control over an operating system to make a competitor's product less effective. It is about time people realize that Microsoft has too much control and influence over the computing industry. DAVID W. LEWIS Coos Bay, Oregon Via E-mail

This whole computer/internet thing leaves me a bit mystified. Aside from a very few niche applications in business and certain of the sciences, of what practical use are computers or the Internet? The minor applications in business and research are valuable, but otherwise computers look to me like nothing more than expensive toys--Barbie dolls for spoiled and bored grownups--and the Internet browser programs look suspiciously like this year's dresses for Barbie. MARTY MELTZER Morton Grove, Illinois

Let me point out the following facts: No one now owns the Internet, and no one ever will. It is "owned" by its users. No one will ever "rule the information age." Even the idea is preposterous.

While Microsoft has been useful, its products are carburetors and ignition systems. Bill Gates does not design "cars" but only supplies useful pieces that make them run. What drives the information age is thousands of businesses that pay for the systems that keep the economies of the world growing. W. ROBERT WIDENER, Chief Executive FarSight Technologies, Ltd. Brighton, England

CAMPAIGNING IN THE STEAM

I was in the crowd shown in your photograph of Elizabeth Dole giving a speech at the opening of the Dole-Kemp headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky [CAMPAIGN NOTEBOOK, Sept. 16]. We did not get "soaked," as you stated, only sprinkled on. When showers began, Elizabeth Dole quickly assessed the situation and graciously walked off the stage and to the back of a steamy room to give everyone a chance to hear about Bob Dole's straightforward and honest goals. We outside were rained on a bit, and those inside cooked in the heat while Elizabeth Dole sailed through both the showers and the heat to deliver an enthusiastic speech and to stay to greet the many supporters who came out to hear about the kind of leadership we support in Washington. CATHERINE S. SELF Lexington, Kentucky

SANTAS ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Is Christmas coming early in 1996, or is this a cruel, costly hoax? President Clinton is traveling the campaign trail [Nation, Sept. 16] at taxpayer expense, carrying a bag full of tax-dollar promises with a hole in the bottom while making believe he's the Democratic Santa Claus. Bob Dole is wearing a Republican Santa suit and hauling around a similar bag of promises. But neither of these impostors can deliver his presents without a working majority of his elves in control of Congress after the Nov. 5 election. It's time the electorate faced up to the fact that there are no such things as political Santa Clauses. They're simply Grinches in Santa suits. Voters must realize that America has become a nation politically conditioned to fear, dependency, ignorance, irresponsibility and bad taste. Think about it, and change it. DANIEL B. JEFFS Apple Valley, California

THE MARRYING KIND

Please explain to me how two people of the same sex who pledge to love each other in a legally recognized union are going to destroy marriage and by extension, society [NOTEBOOK, Sept. 16]? What is it about same-sex unions that heterosexuals find so threatening? Will more children be born out of wedlock? Will happily married couples call it quits because two men or two women are recognized as married? MARK F. PETERSON New York City

Thank you for "The Marrying Kind." Few opponents of same-sex marriages, such as Georgia Congressman Bob Barr, have contemplated the issue with any appreciation of the experiences of gay and lesbian Americans. I therefore applaud Senator Ted Kennedy for respecting the equal rights of gays and contributing a bill that protects overt gays and lesbians at work from discrimination. But those Senators who side with Barr and Kennedy on their respective bills are undeserving of my gratitude as a gay man. The hypocrisy with which they would endorse openness in the workplace is not empowering if one must also be told that his or her love could never be worthy of marriage. ANTHONY GARCIA Cambridge, Massachusetts

How anyone, politician or not, election year or not, could oppose commitment between individuals in a world where commitment is being challenged in every aspect of daily life is definitely the eighth wonder. BARBARA RYAN Boca Raton, Florida

HIGH OVER THE EYE

Your wonderful and riveting picture of Hurricane Fran [WEATHER, Sept. 16] was striking in its similarity to a spiral galaxy, like a universal configuration. Yet while one terrible force of wind and water leaves a path of destruction, the other, a dazzling array of stars and nebulas thousands of light-years across, wheels through space, creating brand-new worlds. SALLIE NYLUND Milford, Delaware

What is most remarkable about the imagery of the satellite picture of Hurricane Fran is Florida's snakelike feature, shown as if it were about to gobble Cuba. Is this a warning to Fidel? GUY L. POSSCHELLE Miami

SLEEK BIRDS FOR FAT CATS

"Fat Cat," indeed! Business aircraft [NOTEBOOK, Sept. 9], from single-engine Pipers to the Global Express ultra-long-range jet, are effective business tools, and those who use them do so responsibly. With very rare exceptions, they are not the private toys of CEOs. As for options, virtually everything inside a business jet, save for the standard avionics, is an option. Satellite communications and a stand-up shower, fax, PC and crew rest area are not luxuries, as implied, but necessities on aircraft such as the Global Express and Gulfstream V, which are capable of nonstop flights as long as 14 hours. As for 24-karat-gold fittings, you may find them on the business aircraft of certain heads of state and a few particularly wealthy individuals, but you are as likely to find gold fittings on the GV of one of your "fat cat" American CEOs as you are to find a reporter who voted conservative in the past election. KIRBY J. HARRISON, News Editor Aviation International News Midland Park, New Jersey

ALL ABOUT GETTING STONED

I'm glad Garry Trudeau felt no guilt or pain about his use of marijuana [ESSAY Sept. 16]. But there are plenty of marijuana nonusers who have felt plenty of pain over jerks like Trudeau who used pot. How about the $25,000 it cost a family to detoxify its young daughter? How about the law-enforcement people who have been killed and the innocent victims involved in traffic accidents or other criminal activity caused by potheads? DANIEL BOWMAN San Clemente, California

Trudeau's essay was right to the point. I think many people will have to agree with his "oath" that "at one time I possessed, consumed and probably distributed marijuana ... activities for which I may feel embarrassment but not guilt." You have opened a discussion that is long overdue. Trudeau's logic is magic. ROBERT L. DOAK Kissimmee, Florida

I resent the claim repeated by Trudeau that every person of a certain age used drugs, especially marijuana. Perhaps I was isolated in special places, but I did not use drugs and know very few people who did. I accept Trudeau's confession as his own but consider it the height of arrogance that he feels the need to apologize for an entire generation when he really knows no reality other than his own. ROLFE HUNT Bainbridge, Georgia

I've never heard of anyone dying of a marijuana overdose. I did, however, in college hear of people going into brain-damaging comas from alcohol. The alcohol made you decorate the sidewalks and wake up with a headache. Pot merely gave you the munchies, guaranteeing employment for the pizza business. Legalize it, tax it and that will help to lower the deficit. PETE HANCE Fogelsville, Pennsylvania

The flippant piece by Trudeau is exactly why we have a growing teenage drug problem today. Many adults in his peer group show by their actions and words that they still view using marijuana as a harmless pursuit. Trudeau's attempt at satire is unforgivable when you consider how many young people's lives are permanently destroyed and damaged by drugs. DAVID A. WALKER JR. Cleveland, Ohio

There is a time in a child's life when self-disciplined performance--drive, will power, the discipline to perform in the face of adversity--is learned, a necessary developmental stage that is wired into each person. Once missed, it is hard, perhaps impossible to reclaim as are many childhood stages. Only look at a stoned 12-year-old; there are many to be seen. Featuring Trudeau's article is but another license to damage the young. ARTHUR C. HENRY Portland, Oregon

A GOOD DAY TO DIE

Richard Zoglin in his review of the West [TELEVISION Sept. 16] says "intertribal hatreds" marred relations among Native Americans. But intertribal warfare isn't really a matter of hatred. The tribal view sees ethics in terms of harmony vs. disharmony, not good vs. evil. Hunting is a part of this harmony, and so is war. Thus Lakota warriors went into battle shouting, "It's a good day to die!" The Judeo-Christian ethic says someone must be at fault if there is war. But tribal ethics recognizes no-fault war. MARK MIDBON Mesa, Arizona

SNIFF, SNIFF

I hope the new cosmetics [NOTEBOOK, Sept. 16] smell right, especially Mildew, Plague and Gangrene. Yet I wonder how the cosmetic industry missed Dirty Diaper, Rotting Fish and Sewage? DAVID F. SIEMENS JR. Los Angeles

THE BOOK OF BENNETT VIRTUE

Your glowing article on William Bennett topped with the halo on his head [NATION, Sept. 16] made me sick. "Life is good" for the millionaire, who is nothing more than a blowhard preacher without the credentials. Who is this rich, anti-gay, anti-choice, pro-corporal- and capital-punishment zealot to tell people who struggle every day to get by about "'moral poverty' born of negligent parenting, welfare dependency and too easy divorce"? I am sick of the crop of rich Republicans who hypocritically sermonize about the decline in "family values," when their values translated into actions destroy the families of millions! MARK ROLFSEMA Chelmsford, Massachusetts First Colin Powell, now William Bennett. Both are men of substance who refuse to play the game because it contradicts their sense of right and wrong and their desire to protect their families. Maybe neither would make a good President, but if our system deters dynamic individuals with integrity from trying, how will we find out? JENNIFER ANGLUM Cordova, Tennessee

We need more people like Bennett in Washington because the moral decay and the rising egos are starting to make the rest of us feel ill. Good for you, Bennett, for standing up to our society and letting it know you are not ashamed to believe in the living God and follow what you know to be a moral way to live. Hopefully our country's President will ready your article and make the necessary changes in his life. NATHAN D. WINTERS Springfield, Missouri