Letters

Flat-Out Cool!

"Like the iMac, Steve Jobs is cheeky and iconoclastic. And visionary. By comparison, other computer makers appear stodgy." KARL NYQUIST Glasgow, Scotland

In the wake of recent events, social and economic, Apple should be commended for its bravery in the high-tech marketplace [TECHNOLOGY, Jan. 14]. The new iMac computer is an eye-catching symbol of Apple's vision and leadership. Apple's user-friendly operating system, Mac OS X, is employed by everyday users who are happily unaware that it is a state-of-the-art system. TOBY SMITH Pittsburgh, Pa.

The new iMac is cute, but after cute, then what? At my local computer store, Mac-compatible software titles are vastly outnumbered by those for the PC. Apple grabbed the graphics industry, while the PC people took over the rest of the field. The number of users who want to edit movies and sound is small, and you can do these things on a PC as well. If Apple is to survive, it must become a bit more mainstream and a lot less cult driven. BARRY PEARLMAN Chesterfield, Mo.

It is refreshing to see Apple get some of the credit it so richly deserves. Every day I am amazed at the effect the original iMac has had on industrial design, from computers to dustpans. Apple's computers make our workday fun. AIMEE GIESE Denver

Steve Jobs is out of touch with today's consumers. More than ever, the personal computer is seen as simply another home appliance, much like an expensive toaster. Most machines, regardless of their operating system, incorporate the same general functionality. The new iMac is not revolutionary. It is simply a prettier toaster. BRIAN LAVALLEE Quebec City

Jobs has an uncanny gift for knowing what people want their computers to do. Nearly all Apple's good ideas have been copied by others, but they can never make the concepts work as well or with as much style. Apple says, "Think Different," and I agree. So I say to computer users: Watch out. If Steve is doing it, you are likely to see an imitation of it soon. MICHAEL KLEIN San Antonio, Texas

Once again Apple releases a cute but basically irrelevant desktop computer, and the media fawn over it. Any Joe Average can go to a store and walk away with a Windows box that has a nice, fast Pentium 4 processor and is compatible with almost everything. Apple can sell overstyled toys to its fanatical 5% of the market, but why should the rest of us care? MIKE YURKOVICH Lincoln Park, Mich.

I own a Mac, but even for Mac fans, your story on the new iMac was over the top. Writer Josh Quittner gushed so much, I felt as if I had been under Niagara Falls for an hour. Jobs is a miracle man and knows his creation best, but I'm willing to bet that the new machine won't live up to the hyperbole. JEFF TOPPING Phoenix, Ariz.

The new iMac is just another Apple with a pretty face. What's next, a racy-looking vacuum cleaner? TRACY J. EVANS Albany, Ore.

--Distinctly unimpressed by the design of the new iMac, some of you offered barbed comments on its resemblance to less-than-sleek objects. "It took Apple two years to come up with something that looks like the blower unit of my grandma's old hair dryer!" chortled a Canadian reader. A New Yorker cracked that "the machine is even uglier than the original iMac; its base resembles a Hostess Sno Ball." "Looks like a broken table lamp," wrote a Californian. And an Ohioan entirely shrugged off the importance of design, saying, "Jobs can make the iMac look like the Space Needle for all I care. I don't give a darn about making computers pretty!"

Bush's Domestic Agenda

RE "The War At Home," about what President Bush will try to accomplish on the home front [NATION, Jan. 14]: It seems Bush needs to quit listening to his so-called advisers, especially to their ideas that try to capitalize on his overinflated 90% approval rating. If one of Bush's proposals is to encourage people to volunteer and give to charity, he definitely is missing the boat. The American people don't want to hear that they have to give more and serve more. What they want to know is simple: What does Bush plan to do about the economy? If the Republicans are worried that "the public will lose its focus on the war and start brooding about the economy," they should be. That mind-set is already very close to reality. CATHERINE B. BROWN San Antonio, Texas

Unraveling at the Seams

The Argentine crisis is the result of the total failure of globalization and free-market economics implemented by the U.S. and the International Monetary Fund [GLOBAL AGENDA, Jan. 14]. These policies are skewed to benefit investors at the expense of ordinary people, particularly in the Third World. ARNALDO YODICE Worcester, Mass.

The Argentines seem to blame their own leaders more than they blame America or the IMF for aggravating their financial distress. By remaining committed to Argentina's need to recuperate while being sensitive to its sovereignty, the U.S. can keep it that way. KRISTINA BERLIN Greenwich, Conn.

It is true that the government of Argentina made some mistakes, but why should it follow policies imposed by the World Bank and the IMF that lead to financial disaster and human suffering? I wholeheartedly want Argentina to "build an economy based less on beef than on brainpower," as your columnist Michael Elliott urges, but it is not going to happen under the failed direction of the World Bank and the IMF. SHANNON FRITTS-PENNIMAN Canton, N.Y.

Trouble in the Aisles

Your report on K Mart missed the essential difference between it and Wal-Mart [BUSINESS, Jan. 14]. When I exit a Wal-Mart store, I don't feel like strangling somebody. Shopping at K Mart is a miserable experience. K Mart stores are in total disarray. Ask employees for assistance at your own peril; they act put out and know little more than you do. Wake up, K Mart! Consumers don't really care about Blue Light Specials anymore, because prices are the same everywhere. What shoppers want is precisely what K Mart lacks: customer service. JOE O'BRIEN Waterbury, Vt.

Revving Up a Classic

I was glad to see that General Motors may bring back the Chevy Bel Air [BUSINESS, Jan. 14], but the concept car pictured in your story is little more than a poor imitation of Ford's new retro T-Bird. If GM wants a retro car that will really get people flocking to the showrooms, it should try this: a new Bel Air with the latest automotive technology but wrapped in the exact same body as the 1955-57 Bel Airs, rather than just taking styling cues from those cars. Those models had a classic look as well as a lot of room inside without being enormous outside. If GM did this, I would be at the local Chevy dealer tomorrow ordering my new Bel Air convertible, and I would probably be standing in a long line. ROGER KEYES Hamden, Conn.

High Style in the Heather

I saw the picture of Madonna in her leather tunic and tartan kilt [PEOPLE, Jan. 14]. After noting that tough, defiant gaze into the distance, the fearless jawline, those bare musclebound arms, the wild windblown hair and the Highland fog swirling around the feet, I decided the subject of the photo wasn't Madonna but Mel Gibson's Braveheart in drag. DONNA SALTARELLI Tustin, Calif.