Don't Confuse NSI with a Monopoly

''What's in a name.com? Plenty'' (Legal Affairs, Sept. 6) correctly identified many important issues about the future of the Internet. Unfortunately, the article also contained several misperceptions about Network Solutions Inc. (NSI).

NSI does not have a government contract for domain name registrations. NSI entered into a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (since transferred to the Commerce Dept.) that provided NSI the opportunity to register names in four domains. NSI invested the more than $250 million in hardware, software, and highly trained personnel to meet the explosive growth of name registrations. NSI had to take all the risk including legal liability.

NSI does not have a monopoly on domain name registrations. NSI did have the exclusive right to register names in four of the 250 domains currently available. Through hard work and investment, it turned that opportunity into a thriving business. But today, even those four domain names are open to competition. In fact, one of NSI's competitors just announced that it has signed up its 1 millionth customer in the dot.com domain--a number equal to almost 20% of NSI's entire customer base.

The intellectual property developed by NSI while registering domain names is not public property. It belongs to NSI under the terms of the cooperative agreement. As with thousands of other companies and universities that have entered into agreements with the National Science Foundation, information developed as a result of original work and private investment belongs to the originator, not the government.

Finally, after working nonstop for four years to develop and maintain key infrastructure that makes the Internet work reliably and securely, NSI certainly does oppose efforts that would allow the system to be disrupted by political wrangling. We owe it to our more than 5 million customers around the world not to let that happen, and we take that business responsibility very seriously.

Michael A. Daniels
Chairman
Network Solutions Inc.
McLean, Va.

Shed No Tears for the IPO Tycoon

''Inside an Internet IPO'' (Cover Story, Sept. 6) was fascinating reading, but please don't expect us to shed tears of sympathy for the ''five weeks of pure boredom'' and the two weeks of ''excruciating'' early mornings and long days for the owners to land their multi-hundred-million-dollar windfalls. They need to spend a day following a nurse in an intensive-care unit on a 10-day shift (with no stock options) to understand words like excruciating and to be more grateful for their compensation. And a few sleepless nights in the lab with an underpaid biomedical researcher struggling to get a grant application approved for a cancer study might help put their own nights of suffering in hotel suites in better perspective.

No one should begrudge the choices or financial successes of the entrepreneur. Just don't describe this roller-coaster experience of an IPO in such mythic and tragic human terms.

Ronald S. Newbower
Acton, Mass.

Is Barad in over Her Head at Mattel?

Street-smart investors bailed out of Mattel Inc. stock months ago, and the analysts, burned in 1998, won't be fooled again soon (''Searching for Turnaround Barbie,'' The Corporation, Sept. 6). Unfortunately for Mattel and its shareholders, the worst is probably yet to come.

Throughout her tenure at Mattel, CEO Jill E. Barad has made numerous assumptions that could continue to have disastrous implications for the toymaker. Not the least of which is the assumption that, at $3.5 billion, the acquisition of Learning Co. is somehow good for Mattel. The brands at the Learning Center are ancient in software years and feature fairly generic characters.

Moreover, because of the generic makeup of the Learning Center brands, the margins earned on the current

$1 billion in sales will begin to erode. The next wave of educational software development will incorporate new technologies with better, more interesting characters who already appeal to the target market and their parents.

Meanwhile, the market for used educational CDs will continue to grow, as their quality grows and the initial users graduate to higher forms of computer edutainment. Mattel, like makers of video games, will not share in this market. Although Barad is an excellent marketer, she is in over her head.

Stephen M. Stauning
St. Joseph, Mo.

The Right Way to Run a Credit-Card Company

In ''A panic over plastic'' (News: Analysis & Commentary, Sept. 6), I read with interest about abuses of the late-fee charge. There is a very simple solution to the problem that is fair to both parties: Scrap the requirement that payment must arrive at the credit-card company by a certain date. Instead, require that payment be postmarked before the deadline.

One complication is that the time between mailing out the statement and the payment-due date has shrunk. As a result, many problems arise because of postal delays. Using the postmark date would avoid such mix-ups.

W. Allen Johnson
Ocala, Fla.


Congress will soon be voting on the latest ''revision'' to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Defeated once by a Clinton veto, this one is veto-proof. This law is nominally intended to stop consumer abuse of the system. Using Internal Revenue Service parameters, a means test is intended to stop many consumers from filing a simple Chapter 7 and force them to file a complicated Chapter 13 repayment plan. Effectively, this will let the credit-card companies salvage some of their losses.

There is abuse in the current system, but, as in most cases, it is not just one party who is at fault. Have you ever wondered why you get numerous solicitations for credit cards in the mail even though you already have more than one credit card? It is because there is profit in it for the card companies.

A simple way to stop consumers from this destructive behavior would be to limit them to one credit card--but then you would put a wrench in the mighty credit-card machine. Yet the machinery is already in place for the banks to stop multiple card issuance. Banks do not lend in other circumstances when the borrower is overloaded with debt.

I tell my clients credit is like alcohol and guns--wonderful when used properly but deadly when abused. The current law works fine. Changing it is just going to make our job more expensive and pass the cost on to those who can least afford it.

James E. Kuttler
Aurora, Colo.

Economists Predict, Therefore They Eat

Robert Kuttner makes a good point in ''What do you call an economist with a prediction? Wrong'' (Economic Viewpoint, Sept. 6). However, I would suggest a sequel entitled ''What do you call an economist without a prediction? Unemployed.''

The key reason that economists predict and, therefore, that economists are always wrong are that 1) the clients of economists demand that economists know the future, and 2) economists have to feed their families just as normal breadwinners do. I challenge Mr. Kuttner to name one economist in a senior nonacademic position who survives professionally without making predictions.

George P. Roniger
New York

What the New Millennium Will Bring

My vote for the 22nd idea for the 21st Century would be the empowerment of women in politics, business, religion, higher education, science, law, and medicine (''21 Ideas for the 21st Century,'' Cover Story, Aug. 23-30).

As Idea 3 predicts, the next century belongs to the best and the brightest, working in teams with talented leaders. Women are particularly good as team builders, working toward a consensus as opposed to hierarchical management. This is true in all fields of endeavor. Women have been living by their own clocks forever, so they should fit right in to Idea 5's timeless scheduling, and because they will have fewer children, according to Idea 16, they will have more time to devote to their careers. Females will also fit beautifully with Idea 17 by political campaigning over the Internet at a younger age, when they are still rearing children. The remainder of the ideas should also benefit women as well as men.

As you state, smart managers and leaders will pursue several paths at once to maximize their options. That's what we women are best at.

Laurel Anderson
Executive Director
Women's Campaign School
at Yale University
Trumbull, Conn.


It is a shame your writer for education did not interview someone with a more realistic picture of the challenges of a responsive high school. The demands on today's relevant high schools necessitate more time for their clients--not less. Expanding basic knowledge, technology, multi-lingualism, human relations, family education, and community service cry out for more time and resources and for better staff training.

To conclude by citing some social traditions (proms, rallies, etc.) as boring reminds one of the adage that you get out of life what you put in to it. That is what a few adolescents may have to learn. They will enjoy and get out of life more now and tomorrow. Even college.

Norm Goldman
Pennington, N.J.

Helping Kids with Aching Backs

I congratulate you for ''Mom, my back really hurts,'' (BUSINESS WEEK LifeStyle, Aug. 16), which addresses a problem that has been largely ignored by the computer industry and computer journals. Back injuries and repetitive stress injuries associated with sitting and computing have reached epidemic proportions with adults, and concerns are growing about similar injuries among children.

In addition to ergonomically correct computer workstations and backpacks, children need school chairs and desks that promote good posture. They sit for up to seven hours a day in hard wooden or plastic chairs. Other countries have taken steps to improve children's ''workstations.'' A nationwide campaign was proposed in Britain to teach kids proper posture related to ergonomics. American schools should address this problem today to prevent unnecessary injury to our children.

Eric Schlossberg
Berkeley, Calif.

Inflation Is Never ''Benign''

''Will the Fed keep turning down the flame?'' (Business Outlook, Sept. 6) is in keeping with your high standards. I found it useful as always. I must nonetheless take issue with one point--not the main thrust of your report, but to me an important one.

You say ''consumer prices were rising at a benign 2.1% yearly pace.'' There is nothing benign about inflation of 2.1%. At that rate, prices double in 33 years. If you retire at 60, and you live on a fixed income, you will find buying power cut in half by the time you are 93.

When modern inflation first started to soar, after World War II, this aspect used to be talked about all the time. It is only in light of what has happened since then that 2% inflation seems benign. In 1950, the average rate of inflation (in Britain and Canada) over the preceding 300 years had been essentially zero. Significant swings resulted from wars and subsequent depressions, but over the long run, zero.

I have never read anything that says zero inflation is a bad thing. On the other hand, I have read much and know from my own experience that anything greater than that is bad. It hurts people on fixed incomes, and that is an ever-growing part of the population.

G.A. Cooper
Vancouver, B.C.

Illustrated gatefold accompanying ''Tread carefully'' (Special Report on Global Investing, Sept. 13)

The illustrated gatefold accompanying ''Tread carefully,'' (Special Report on Global Investing, Sept. 13) in some editions erroneously showed the former British colonial flag of Hong Kong instead of the current one.

''Perking up PICO'' (Inside Wall Street, Sept. 20)

In ''Perking up PICO'' (Inside Wall Street, Sept. 20), investment firm M. J. Whitman was incorrectly identified as J. Whitman. In the same column, ''Genesis: A strong start on the Web'' inadvertently dropped a word. It should have read ''Also, JWG acquired Genesis Merchant Group Securities last year for $15.8 million--and this year sold its institutional sales and research unit for $4 million and its clearing operations for $59 million.''