Our Digital Future?(Letter to the Editor)

Readers of our Dec. 8 cover package on the future of the computer faulted Bill Gates for "missing the boat" on new technology, then "desperately playing catch-up." Said one, "When something new appears in our digital future, Microsoft will not have conceived it or invented it--it will have copied it."

Tomorrow's Technology

If I wanted to know "The Future of Computers," the last person I'd look to would be Bill Gates ("He's Still Having Fun," next frontiers, Nov. 24). Gates is arguably a marketing and business genius. But since the inception of the personal computer, Microsoft has consistently been well behind the curve in terms of any true innovation. Whether it's been the mouse- driven interface, plug-and-play technology, online content services, the Web browser, streaming media or online music, companies other than Microsoft have consistently provided the innovation and proved the market viability. At that point, Microsoft has typically stepped in and taken over the given niche. You'd have done well to quiz Gates on future business trends in the technology realm. This is his true forte.

Steven Meloan

Sonoma, California

It is interesting that you chose to interview Microsoft's Bill Gates about IT innovation when your list of PC milestones includes Apple four times and Microsoft twice. Likewise, in "Killer Applications," Apple gets two mentions to Microsoft's none. Shouldn't you talk to Apple CEO Steve Jobs to learn about the future of the computer industry?

Karl Kuhn