Letters to the Editor

• Nov 13, 2002

Mac OS can be wireless, too

Reading your review of 802.11b wireless access points, I was surprised and disappointed to see such blatant prejudice. Although the article itself was well-written, your reviewers omitted one of the first 802.11 devices and one of the most well-known.

In previous articles you have reviewed LCD displays, laptops and desktops. In each one you ignored one of the leading manufacturers.

This prejudice is rife throughout the technical industry and your omission of their products does nothing to dispel the myths and rumors surrounding their products.

I'm not asking you to advertise or promote their products, just that you give them equal treatment in your articles. If you haven't figured it out yet I'm talking about products from Apple Computer Inc.

Benjamin Berry

Durham, N.H.

Box-office omission

I certainly enjoyed Tammy Ruggles' list of portrayals of government computers on film in her article, 'Sometimes Fiction is Stranger than Truth'. She overlooked a film that ranks right alongside '2001: A Space Odyssey' as a grandparent of that genre.

In the 1970 release, 'Colossus: The Forbin Project,' the American supercomputer, Colossus, and its Soviet counterpart, Guardian, get together to rule the world. This chilling and prescient movie explores the clash between freedom and the search for safety and security. Made more than 30 years ago, when the nation was unwilling to sacrifice freedom for security, the film ends with Eric Braedon's final shout of defiance: 'Never!' I wonder how it would end if made today.

John Bruhl
Mechanical engineer

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Livermore, Calif.

Duplicate effort should stop

After reading 'Army plans to cut programs, privatize jobs', I've got a quick suggestion for Army Secretary Thomas White. He should let the Defense Logistics Agency provide a single source of logistics data and management of data, including national stock numbers, and terminate Army Cataloging duplication of effort.

Both the U.S. steel industry and Army Cataloging have obsolete logistic systems. That why Japan is underselling American steel and two organizations are cataloging national stock numbers worldwide.

Michael Kush
Systems product specialist

Defense Logistics Information Service,

Electronic Documents/Products Branch

Battle Creek, Mich.