TO THE EDITOR

April 17, 2001 —

Creeping fascism

I JUST READ Editor in Chief Michael Vizard's column in the March 26 issue of InfoWorld. In it, Mr. Vizard wrote: "We like to think that we live in a capitalistic economy, but more truthfully we live in a highly regulated capitalistic economy. This is a pretty good thing because a society where Adam Smith's views of economics prevailed to their utmost degree would likely be a society filled with chaos and turmoil."

Never mind for a minute how you can have a "capitalistic" economy that is "highly regulated." At least we now know where Comrade Vizard is coming from. Perhaps InfoWorld could sport a hammer and sickle on the cover from now on.

We have what used to be a capitalist economy. It has suffered from creeping fascism for a long time. We already have chaos and turmoil. I will take the vision of Adam Smith any day of the week.

As Thomas Jefferson said in his first inaugural address on March 4, 1801: "A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government."

Seth Allen, Alexandria, Va.

How much did Microsoft pay you?

IN REGARD TO the completely one-sided, insulting, and gratuitous editorial Joris Evers foisted on us under the guise of "Business News" with the title "(Microsoft launches second worldwide piracy hunt), I can only ask, How much did Mr. Bill pay you to lend your name to such drivel?

Mr. Evers works for a publication that bills itself as the definer of technology for business, but he appears to be shilling for the most anti-business organization ever created.

Mr. Evers' article breathlessly claimed, without any corroboration, that software vendors of whom Microsoft disapproves are child pornographers!

He also claimed that these Webmasters are somehow linked to organized crime, while conveniently leaving out the incontrovertible fact that Microsoft has been found guilty of organized criminal activity.

The truth is that software piracy is not primarily carried out on the Net; it is carried out through the restrictive conditions Microsoft places on OEMs. No non-Microsoft software can be installed on any machine which ships with that OS, thus pirating competitors' sales.

Microsoft is not losing any money to piracy -- this is part of their open-source-is-un-American agenda, and you have played right into their hands!

The truth is that Microsoft sales are declining due to slowing PC sales, the poor quality of its software, and the rapid improvement in Linux distributions. And its last best hope is to perform "Web takedowns" so as to silence any dissenting voices.

Ultimately, if Redmond, Wash., has its way, there will be no Internet, only MSN -- and that of course will be off-line.

Please do not use the good name of InfoWorld and its credibility within our community to spread such malevolent gossip.

Joe McCarthy, Newport Beach, Calif.

Good article, one bad fact

MR. LEWIS' ARTICLE "Little, brittle, and fiddle -- the quick answer to George W.'s impact on IT" (IS Survival Guide, March 26) is a good one with many accurate points, in my opinion.

However,, Mr. Lewis did miss a big one. He said that every dollar not taken from citizens is a dollar not available for the government to pay the debt. I suggest he review the General Accounting Office's records before standing by that fact. I can see his reasoning and it would seem to make sense, but only if he looks on the surface of the issue.

Mr. Lewis equates a drop in the tax rate to a drop in dollars going to Washington.

The fact (please check this with GAO's records) is that when tax rates drop, economic activity picks up. Increased economic activity means more actual tax dollars being sent to Washington.

Using an outrageous example to make the point, if the tax rate goes to 100 percent (income tax), but no one is working, then Washington gets nothing.

On the other hand, if the tax rate goes to 1 percent and someone actually earns $100 in salary, then Washington gets $1. Simple and true.

I ask Mr. Lewis to please not make such important statements about our economy if he doesn't truly have a grasp of the facts. It is one thing to suggest using Microsoft SQL Server over Oracle. That could be debated, and Oracle is even putting its money where its mouth is with its $1 million challenge. But ultimately, either will eventually do the job. However, Mr. Lewis' opinion regarding taxes may actually persuade people -- that also have sway over others -- to believe something that is simply not true. And ignorance of facts kills.

J. Scott Anderson, Austin, Texas

Larry is not alone

AFTER READING THE recent IS Survival Guide (April 2), don't blame Larry Ellison for everything, Mr. Lewis. Or at least, not only him.

I never really understood how companies could blindly buy packages like SAP where the concept is: Adapt your business process so we can be useful to you. I have seen several large companies (with thousands of employees) investing millions of dollars and several man-years of effort to adapt their business process for the same quest.

Yes, every employee is using the same tool to report progress in their work.

Yes, reports are always available to the management.

Yes, costs can be controlled and monitored 24 hours a day.

But how many of us haven't found weakness in the flexibility of the system to represent all aspects of our work?

How many of us haven't wished to go back to our previous system which, despite all known imperfections, was at least better adapted to our work?

We know that every system change brings an equally opposed force called resistance to change.

But why can't some people understand that given the same resources (funds, time, analysts, developers, trainers, management buy-in) that were given to implement those humongous systems, most if not all companies could build, adapt, or modify their previous system to a system that answers the needs of all? Then why do we buy this? Is it because they have an outstanding sales force or is it because our higher management is easily impressed?

Larry is not the first to try to cash in on that easy-sale part. Cash is there for them to take.

Jean-Yves Hemlin, Montreal

Industry sales hype

IT IS NOT OFTEN that your magazine publishes totally fabricated information, but such seems to be the case in your article on biometrics in the April 2 issue (Biometrics comforts customers while securing assets). Apparently P.J. Connolly has bought into the sales hype from this industry and is unwittingly helping to broadcast and perpetuate this fabrication about the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) requirements for security in the health care industry.

His article states, "although the regulations implementing HIPAA don't require biometric authentication, they recommend it." Hogwash! My business is designing and servicing networks for the medical community and I know this to be hoopla created by those who want to scare less-informed IS managers into buying gadgets they don't need.

I challenge you to show your readers where in the regulations such a recommendation is made, otherwise you appear to be a shill for someone's sales department. If you were wrong, I also challenge you to prominently print a correction.

Luis Zapata, Washington

Foreign worker floodgates

EXCUSE ME, do we need to allow more foreign workers into the United States because the economy has tanked? After reading Brian Livingston's March 26 column (Window Manager), I believe this is the problem with government jumping in with the same old "The sky is falling" rhetoric, then the "We will save the day for you" routine.

Now that they have opened the floodgates for more foreign tech employees, how do you reverse it back to prior limits of immigration? As usual, once the government solves the problem, they can't/won't correct it when the situation drastically changes.

Gary Hebb, Hoffman Estates, Ill.

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