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A L S O__T O D A Y 21st Log Crackdown on classic arcade game lovers [ BRILLIANT CAREERS ] Of mice, men and machines By Andrew Leonard Doug Engelbart invented the mouse -- and much more. He still dreams of upgrading the human operating system [ NEWS ] A kinder, gentler lynch mob By Gary Kamiya The GOP confirms the most brain-dead radical stereotypes from the '60s (12/15/98) - - - - - - - - - - T A B L E__T A L K Should companies monitor their employees' Net usage? Debate why or why not in the Digital Culture area of Table Talk ___________________ Check out books on Microsoft at BarnesandNoble.com ___________________ R E C E N T L Y Internet censure-ship By Janelle Brown Can the Censure and Move On Web site make a difference? (12/14/98) Information theory and practice By Matthew DeBord Once, "information" didn't exist -- now it's everywhere. How'd that happen? (12/14/98) You've got sendmail By Andrew Leonard Eric Allman's free program makes sure your e-mail gets through. Now it's going commercial (12/11/98) The 21st Challenge No. 16 Results By Charlie Varon and Jim Rosenau Mystery misdirected e-mail (12/11/98) What does technology want? By R.U. Sirius Kevin Kelly talks about his "New Rules for the New Economy" (12/10/98) - - - - - - - - - - BROWSE THE 21ST LET'S GET THIS STRAIGHT ARCHIVES - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - S A L O N E M P O R I U M FREE! 12-ounce bag of Salon Blend with a purchase of $30 or more. While supplies last.

Bill Gates and Bill Clinton -- prisoners of Lawyer World Both leaders have been evasive on the stand. But who can blame them? - - - - - - BY SCOTT ROSENBERG The chief executives of the richest and most powerful technology corporation and the richest and most powerful nation on the planet have both been under fire all year for the same offense. Hold on -- I'm not saying I possess never-before-revealed evidence of Bill Gates' dalliance with some thong-flashing Microsoft intern. But at heart, the case against Gates that has unfolded all fall in federal court and the case against President Clinton that has snowballed through Congress this past month are similar: Both men are accused of abusing language. Clinton is charged with perjury -- deliberately lying under oath in a matter "material" to a legal proceeding. Gates is charged with unfair monopoly tactics -- twisting the threads of program code to undermine a rival company in violation of antitrust laws. And in the course of the proceedings against them, both men have found themselves painted by opponents as devilish seducers wielding an almost supernatural ability to twist words inside out for their own insidious ends. "He picks out a single word and weaves from it a deceitful answer," the House Judiciary Committee's lead counsel, David Schippers, said of Clinton in his closing statement last week. "He also invents convoluted definitions of words and phrases in his own crafty mind. Of course he will never seek to clarify a question, because that may trap him into a straight answer. Can you imagine dealing with such a person in any important matter? You would never know his secret mental reservations or the unspoken redefinition of words. And even if you thought you had solved the enigma, it wouldn't matter. He would just change the meaning to suit his purpose." Gates' opponents might read Schippers' complaint and feel it provides a pretty good description of their enemy, too. If you study the transcripts of the Microsoft chairman's testimony, you find a man resolutely unwilling to grant words a common meaning -- to the extent that he questions whether the "we" in internal Microsoft e-mails actually refers to Microsoft. In one hilarious passage, Gates digs in his heels and says he has no idea what a fellow executive meant in writing that "we're going to be pissing on [Java] at every opportunity." Bill Clinton and Bill Gates -- inveterate hairsplitters, separated at birth! Have our leaders simply lost the ability to talk straight? Or is something more complex and disturbing happening to public discourse: Are we confusing the rules of the courts with the norms of everyday life? A New York Times editorial Monday, demanding an admission from Clinton that he lied, describes the president's evasions as "the language of Lawyer World, where Mr. Clinton seems to live." The Times means this as a term of derision, but Clinton isn't the only inhabitant of the planet of double talk. His congressional foes live there, too. So do the Beltway pundits. So, increasingly, do the leaders of American business, like Bill Gates. Lately, like it or not, we've all had to beam down to Lawyer World. - - - - - - - - - - - - N E X T__P A G E .|. Lawyer World vs. Common Sense World -- where should the two Bills be judged?