Antitrust Law and Microsoft

* “Antitrust in World of Cyberspace: New Rules of the Game” (Oct. 23) is informative but does not go deep enough. Competitors are even afraid to criticize openly in order to avoid retaliation. Bill Gates and his underlings glory in their predatory strategy.

What bothers me is that the “free press” does not launch an in-depth investigation of Microsoft’s practices and reveal the company to be what any person knowledgeable in the field recognizes: a monopoly that does not hesitate to use all the dirty tricks. Gates goes on the premise that he knows what’s best for the personal computer industry and thinks the average customer does not understand and does not care.

IVAN JOHN MIHAIL

Ventura

* You quote Gates as saying Microsoft’s dominance and growth is “positive feedback.” In engineering, positive feedback is undesirable, as it usually causes systems to oscillate out of control. “Negative feedback” is healthy: Manageable systems allow for new input and only correct in proportion to the change. Consumers should be allowed to provide market feedback in the form of choice: The best quality products will succeed, poor products will not.

What is good for Microsoft may not be what is best for evolving new technology. Copying the basic ideas from other products, driving people willing to gamble on new ideas out of business by marketing well below cost, and arranging to force your product on consumers can hardly be regarded as healthy business practices.

JEFF LA COSS

Los Angeles