Letters

BILL GATES' RULES

"The reason Bill Gates is smiling on your cover: not only are the new rules for the digital age his, but he also owns the playing field." JOHN M. SIMPSON Lakewood, Wash.

Many of "Bill Gates' New Rules" [BOOK EXCERPT, March 22] for accelerating and improving business transactions are very appropriate and useful. However, Rule No. 5, "Convert every paper process to a digital process," is worrisome. Gates complains of "administrative processes that were too complicated and time-intensive." He could even swing some environmentalists to this rule because it would reduce paper consumption. However, the temptation to cut down on waste and the desire to transact efficiently cannot supersede the importance of having cold, hard documentation of highly valuable transactions. Let's not go too far in risking our rights and our identities for efficiency. WILLIAM B. NOEL Jackson, Miss.

My first thought upon seeing the cover was that Gates seemed to be saying, "I may be getting my a%$ kicked in federal court, but I can still get my 'I'm good people' mug shot on the cover of TIME, because I'm money!" Still, it was an interesting book excerpt. TONY TOVAR San Diego

When I read Bill Gates' rule no. 1, "Insist that communication flow through e-mail," I thought, What a great way to run a company, and the proof is Microsoft! Yet the U.S. government ruthlessly pursues defendants in antitrust cases. Perhaps it is time for Americans to start investigating some of the economic failures in their country rather than the successes. JIM WIGLE Barrie, Ontario

I eagerly picked up your magazine this week to get some insight regarding succeeding in the digital age from the greatest digital visionary of the 20th century. Imagine my disappointment when I read the trite suggestions that Gates came up with. Insist on e-mail? Study sales data online? My four-year-old nephew could have come up with such gems while watching Barney on the boob tube. Who is Gates' target audience for these pearls of wisdom? SANJAY THOMAS Ottawa

Getting advice for success from Gates is like listening to Henry Ford before the Japanese automotive invasion. Incremental success comes from studying and mimicking past success stories. Phenomenal success comes from breaking the mold created by these successes. My advice to my three-month-old son will be to study the failures of the once powerful dinosaurs (animal and business) and learn from their mistakes! TONY CIAMBERLANO Montreal

Each of the 12 rules excerpted from Gates' new book is a self-serving endorsement of products in which he has a vested interest. Persuading others to follow these rules will ensure the continued success of one digital-age company, although it is unclear exactly how much competitive advantage it will afford others. CHARLES MEYER St. Louis, Mo.

I have not followed the antitrust case against Microsoft closely. Nevertheless, as a Windows 95 user for the past four years, I cannot help hoping for a verdict, specially written for Microsoft, that reads, "Warning: This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down." CHRIS MCINTIRE Big Bear City, Calif.

You will not understand this because you apparently do not make your living by using Microsoft's Windows' operating system, but Gates' face clearly does not belong on the cover of TIME magazine. It really belongs on a WANTED poster. WILLIAM B. FANKBONER La Quinta, Calif.

TO CATCH A SPY?

Wen Ho Lee's picture has been splashed all over the media [NATION, March 22], Congressmen have attacked the Chinese government, and Lee has lost his job because he came into contact with Chinese officials. Yet despite the hype, American officials have not pressed charges against Lee because they don't have enough evidence. We are ruining the life of a man who may be innocent, and we are attacking a country whose foreign policy has been defensive and nonaggressive with respect to America. Americans should stop and consider the situation before acting irresponsibly. J. BYRON WONG New York City

Worse than being biased, your article is racist when it implies that Wen Ho Lee would spy for China because he is Chinese. Why would Lee, a Taiwanese by birth, help China reclaim Taiwan? Obviously, you have not learned from your mistake in World War II when you mistrusted a great many American citizens because they were Japanese or of Japanese descent. VINCENT LIM Singapore

If Nazi Germany and the former Soviet Union were the monsters of the 20th century, China has all the makings of becoming the monster of the 21st century. The Chinese government steals technology from the U.S., sells arms and technology illegally to other countries, violates human rights with impunity, amasses nuclear weapons, continues to occupy Tibet and threatens Taiwan's safety and security. Yet it always gets a sweetheart deal from the U.S. and is crowned a most favored nation. By the time we finally wake up, the monster will have emerged full-fledged. CHARLES PUTHOTA Milwaukee, Wis.

Is Wen Ho Lee the 1999 Dreyfus of the U.S.? THI DO Kingsport, Tenn.

BATTLE OF THE SPRAWL

TIME pointed to useful strategies for halting urban sprawl [NATION, March 22]. Important as these are, none will stop the sprawl steamroller without another essential element--reform of the property tax. This tax inflates land prices and spurs nonuse and abuse of city sites, driving development out into forests and fields. It raises your taxes when you build and maintain homes or stores but lowers them if you let properties decay. These pocketbook incentives for destroying communities are a prime cause of the out-migration that fuels sprawls. WALTER RYBECK Kensington, Md.

As a farmer, I share the concerns of those who face losing their farms to development. I certainly understand the temptation and the frequent financial need to take the money and run. This issue, however, has an important element not mentioned in your article. Too often it is the best land that is developed. For food and fiber production, all land was not created equal. If our production from land is going to be forced into more intensively farmed areas, it is in the interest of all to keep the best land in production and manage development with that in mind. DWIGHT R. CHERRY Willard, Ohio

MONICA LOOSE LIPS

The prostitutes at a legal brothel in southern Nevada, where I served as madam for five years, hooted at the absurdity of Monica's claim that "telling 10 people [of her affair with the President] was being pretty discreet" [NATION, March 15]. Girls who work in legal brothels entertain some pretty high-powered men whose names are instantly recognizable. The anonymity of the men who enter the brothel is sacrosanct. No professional brothel prostitute reveals the identity of any of her clients, regardless of their status or celebrity. A prostitute's commitment to total discretion is a prerequisite to her employment. In my tell-all book about Sheri's Ranch, the brothel where I was madam, I gave readers a fly-on-the-wall view of brothel activities. I did not reveal the identity of the clients. No promise of financial gain could have persuaded me otherwise. Interesting, isn't it, that professional prostitutes have more integrity than Monica, whose loose lips almost sank the ship of state? LORA SHANER Pahrump, Nev.

HAIL TO THE YANKEE CLIPPER

My eyes were damp when I finished the eloquent and touching piece by Paul Gray on Joe D. [SPORT, March 22], truly an American legend and icon. The sports aura in which DiMaggio flourished is apparently gone forever. NORMAN R. KIRK Etobicoke, Ontario

Back in the mid-'60s, my dad took me to Joe's restaurant in San Francisco. Somehow Dad sneaked away and asked DiMaggio if he'd come talk to me. I will never forget that moment when Joltin' Joe sat down with a 10-year-old ballplayer to talk about baseball and give me his autograph. This middle-aged man is still deeply touched that the great Joe DiMaggio would take that time with me, and no doubt thousands of other young men. To me, that will always be the measure of his greatness. GARY DEWITT Tahoe Vista, Calif.