Compuware Women ''Set the Record Straight''

As women in senior management at Compuware Corp., we were distressed and disturbed by your recent articles on Compuware and Pete Karmanos (''No way to treat a crisis'' and ''Keeping an investigation on the right track,'' People, July 5). While it would be inappropriate for us to address the specifics you cited, suffice it to say that your description of the situation was incomplete, at best.

What is most important to us, however, is to set the record straight as to the reality of being female at Compuware Corp. As one example, there are currently four women on Compuware's executive committee, and two on the board of directors. We challenge you to find another top software company that can match these percentages in top management. Of those four women on the executive committee, all were promoted from within the company. If there's a glass ceiling at Compuware, we've yet to encounter it.

We have all worked with Pete Karmanos on a near daily basis. Can he be demanding at times? Certainly. There isn't a successful business leader alive who isn't. But we can say two things with absolute certainty: First, we have not witnessed or personally experienced anything that could be viewed as sexist behavior, let alone sexual harassment, in our dealings with Pete. And second, all of us are smarter, better businesspeople because of the experience of working with him.

Compuware is an outstanding company, in large part because of Pete and the people he has hired, encouraged, and promoted. Both the company and Pete deserve more balanced, informed treatment than what your publication has portrayed.

Patricia Bennett, Sales Director
Donna Debrodt, Vice-President, Corporate Marketing
Laura Fournier, Chief Financial Officer
Chris Galloway, Vice-President, Testing and Implementation
Mary Hepler, Vice-President, Professional Services
Denise Knobblock, Executive Vice-President, Human Resources and Administration
Barbara Kovach, Deputy General Counsel
Phyllis Recca, Senior Vice-President, Professional Services
Karen Sosnick, General Manager, Fault Management Products
Jennie Zamberlan, Vice-President, Compuware Solutions
Compuware Corp., Farmington Hills, Mich.

Ban All Guns for All Kids

Thank you for your article describing the gun industry's disturbing practice of marketing guns to young people (''Sonny get your gun,'' Up Front, July 5). If we are serious about keeping guns out of the hands of children, we must find out how gunmakers are marketing to kids and eventually put a stop to it. That is why I authored legislation to require such a study.

The article contained one inaccuracy, which I must correct. Although federal law does prohibit individuals under 18 from buying guns and those under 21 from buying handguns, this law applies only to purchases from gun dealers, which primarily occur in gun stores. For all other purchases--from unlicensed vendors in gun shows, at flea markets, and in private sales--individuals under 18 can buy anything except handguns.

This means that someone under 18 can walk into a gun show or a flea market and buy a semi-automatic assault weapon, a shotgun, or a rifle. That is why I am also sponsoring legislation that would prohibit anyone under age 18 from buying any gun.

Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)
U.S. Senate
Washington

They Should Bottle This Stuff

''The Warren Buffett you don't know'' (Cover Story, July 5) was able to pinpoint the man--his down-to-earth humility combined with his basic business sense. An executive can learn more about business from Buffett than from attending any business school.

The biggest contribution Buffett can make is to ensure that his knowledge is there for all to benefit from. This demands a book from Warren, which should be made compulsory reading for any business executive, student, or investor. My salute to Warren for showing the world that values-based business can be financially rewarding as well.

Hemant Amin
Singapore


It was interesting to see that Warren Buffett, a ''genius'' value investor, now wishes to leave a legacy as a captain of industry. I am in awe of his skill with stocks, but if I were running his show, I wouldn't change horses in mid-stream. It's like watching Mozart change his style to emulate his contemporary Salieri. Sad.

Robert Hively
Tokyo

Straight Talk about Online Insurance

I was dismayed that ''Term life bargain days'' (Business Week Investor, July 5) suggested that readers consult an agent to get educated, then buy insurance online. I would like to believe that most people would value the agent's advice and would buy from him.

The article also said online insurance policies are cheaper. Insurance company pricing is set by the states, for the most part, and cannot be amended unless separate rates are filed. The agent's commission is built into the premium. The online buyer is paying a commission to someone.

Richard H. Pelkofsky
Pelkofsky Insurance
Poughkeepsie, N.Y.


Yes, term life rates may go up Jan. 1, 2000, because of state requirements, but let's stop confusing the public about where to buy their coverage. Buying insurance on the Web is no less costly than buying from a broker or an agent who has access to the same carriers.

As a founding principal of First Financial Resources, I would like to say that we pride ourselves in being carrier-neutral and product-neutral. We sell the same products as the Internet companies at the same price. The difference is that we follow through, and the customer can rest knowing that ownership, premium payment, and beneficiary are properly coordinated with their wills and estate plans.

Michael P. Hanley
First Financial Resources
Walnut Creek, Calif.

This Technocrat Is No Technophile

In ''Bush sends Gore a message: You don't own Silicon Valley'' (Washington Outlook, July 5), George W. Bush is described as moderate and tech-friendly.

Moderate? Maybe. Tech-friendly? Not in Texas. Among the bills he vetoed after the session ended in June was one that would have required the Secretary of State's office to post information about judicial candidates on the Internet. Another bill he vetoed would have required the Texas State Board of Professional Engineers to publish a roster of its licensees on the Internet.

Texas chooses judges, all judges, in partisan elections. It's darned difficult to get info on these candidates, so uninformed Texans have been known to elect candidates with catchy names and checkered pasts.

Al Gore may not have invented the Internet, but I'm sure he knows what it's good for--information. Perhaps some of the techie advisers on the Bush bandwagon can clue the governor in. Surely a social moderate wouldn't want to keep people in the dark on purpose.

Claudia Wilson
Fort Worth

They're My Wires and I'll Surf If I Want To

Debate over open access should focus on one key point: Since deregulation of the cable industry, consumers have been hit with one rate increase after another (''Whose cables are they?'' News: Analysis & Commentary, July 5). The companies have justified these increases as necessary to enable them to build up a modern cable network to better serve their customers. Local governments have bought these arguments and granted steep increases in the name of the public good. The bottom line is that subscribers have paid for these networks--they should now get to use them. If I am paying for cable access in the first place, why should I pay a premium to let me use my own Internet service provider over that cable?

Frank M. Tims
St. Petersburg

The U.S. Is Ready to Fight, but Not Ready to Win

Do we need to spend more on the Pentagon? No--we now outspend all of NATO and Russia and Japan together (''The Pentagon's badly aimed billions,'' Editorials, June 28). We sell all kinds of military hardware all over the planet. We don't care where it goes. Often this hardware is used by repressive regimes to subjugate and suppress their people.

The military has claimed in Congress that it lacks readiness. The real lack of readiness is in the use of diplomatic activity to prevent conflict and engagements.

R.G. Wells
Taos, N.M.

Are They Looking After Grandma or Shareholders?

Baby boomers should rejoice that nursing homes are, as your headline says, ''On the sick list'' (Finance, July 5). For more than 30 years, since the advent of Medicaid and Medicare, for-profit nursing homes--which control 80% of nursing home beds in our country--have focused on how to squeeze money from the government and private payers to benefit shareholders. For-profit nursing homes are little different today than they were 35 years ago.

Your article makes only passing reference to not-for-profit organizations. Maintaining a nonprofit mission, with oversight from a voluntary board of directors, insures a long-term vision. Care for the aged should not be driven by short-term grabs at Medicare funding. If nursing home chains are on the ''sick list,'' that is a symptom of a more serious disease. Our society has abdicated the care of the aged to a profit-driven sector where traditional rules of supply and demand do not exist.

You should focus on new models of care for the elderly, where leadership is coming from nonprofit organizations that measure quality of life, rather than shareholder profit. Which would you rather choose for your grandmother?

Daniel A. Reingold
Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale
New York

''Now the Saturn Is Just Another Car''

At first I was pleased to see that Saturn would be offering a larger car to compete with Honda Accord and Toyota Camry (''A different kind of Saturn,'' News: Analysis & Commentary, July 5). But then I read that Saturn did not design, engineer, or manufacture this car, and that it will have only ''certain elements of the Saturn character,'' such as ''no-haggle pricing, friendly sales, and service,'' and ''dent-resistant plastic panels'' on the doors.

The reason people bought the Saturn was because of its quality and reliability, not friendly salespeople or plastic doors. Now the Saturn is just another car.

Steve Evans
San Jose, Calif.

''The Dragons Bulk Up'' (Information Technology, some editions, July 19)

''The Dragons Bulk Up'' (Information Technology, some editions, July 19) should have said that NEC Corp. was the world's No. 2 memory-device maker in 1997, not the world's No. 2 chipmaker.

''Unveiling the Secrets of the CPI'' (Business Week Investor, July 12)

''Unveiling the Secrets of the CPI'' (Business Week Investor, July 12) erroneously asserted that the consumer price index does not allow for consumers' substitution of one good for another in the same category. In January, 1999, the CPI was modified to capture such substitutions.

The BUSINESS WEEK Global 1000 Country-by-Country tables for the United States (July 12)

In the BUSINESS WEEK Global 1000 Country-by-Country tables for the United States (July 12), the sales figure for Delphi Automotive Systems should have been $28.479 billion, and the correct asset figure should have been $18.668 billion. Also, the average share price (in U.S. dollars) for the companies in the Italy table rose by 5%. And the average share price (in U.S. dollars) for companies in The Netherlands rose 4%.

''Building the best retirement plan'' (Business Week Investor, July 19)

In ''Building the best retirement plan'' (Business Week Investor, July 19), a chart entitled ''Lowering risk via asset allocation'' gave the wrong distribution of assets for the two portfolios presented. The balanced plan is composed of 45% large-cap stocks, 22% small-cap stocks, and 33% bonds. The riskier plan is composed of 75% large-cap stocks and 25% bonds.