Microsoft’s Media Campaign
So Bill Gates is trying to affect public opinion (“Microsoft Plans Stealth Media Blitz,” April 10).
I’ve got his opinion right here: He and Microsoft are out of control. It’s not enough that he’s the wealthiest human on the planet and his company is a monopoly--he has to resort to unethical tactics to manipulate public opinion and lawmakers to get the Department of Justice off his back. With more and more of our daily lives dependent on and affected by computers, Gates already virtually controls how we work and play and is making every effort to control how we access the Internet and what we can see and do when we get there.
If General Motors were in the same position, then other car manufacturers would have to get its approval before they could build their vehicles. Consumers would have to buy GM-brand gasoline to drive their GM vehicles, or GM clones, on GM-built freeways to buy more GM products. I hope your article will finally wake people up to what Gates and Microsoft are really about--domination at any cost.
JAY BINKLY
Burbank
* Re “Don’t Cave In to Microsoft,” editorial, April 12: We continuously badger and criticize Microsoft without considering how much it has done to revolutionize the computer industry. It has improved, advanced and developed new technology which we use on a daily basis. It’s time to give credit where credit is due.
As for the “problem” of Microsoft bundling Internet Explorer into its operating system package, so be it! Microsoft should be able to bundle any software it so chooses. There are absolutely no problems with installing both Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator onto a computer at the same time; I have both versions installed on my computer and they have worked flawlessly.
AMAR PATEL
La Mirada
* Your editorial misses the point. Yes, Microsoft is dominant enough that a strong antitrust case could be brought against the company, and successfully, although it would essentially serve no useful purpose. You can break up Microsoft into as many pieces as you care to; the part with the operating system still controls the entire computer industry in any event.
So-called experts fail to realize that it’s the reluctance on the part of just about every other software developer in this country to develop applications for any other system except Windows 95 that has made Microsoft the controller of the computer world. Until the federal government regulates that software must be developed for all applicable platforms, anti-trusting Microsoft to death will accomplish little other than to just make the entire industry even more unstable than it already is.
KEN FEASTER
Colton
* The fervor with which you attack Microsoft smells of unadorned bias. As a stockholder in the company, I support their efforts to state their case. It’s about time! Your efforts to promote “equality” of buying opportunity undermine those to create excellence. Looking at The Times’ position in its markets, it’s a little like the pot calling the kettle black.
FRANK GOVERN
Huntington Beach
* Three cheers for your editorial! At about the same time as you published it, I visited the Microsoft CarPoint Web site. It is an excellent site for gathering information useful to a car buyer. Before settling down to the meat of the session, I tried a peripheral feature. I received a message that essentially said: Your computer operating system is inadequate. You must use Internet Explorer operating in a Windows environment.
I was using Netscape Communicator on a Macintosh. Do you think that any company other than Microsoft would even consider such tactics in forcing its operating system on a user who has a perfectly good one already? I would feel less used and insulted if Microsoft required a fee to access its data.
WILLIAM BUCHMAN
Los Angeles
