(FORTUNE Magazine) – FORTUNE FOILS A HEART ATTACK

Thanks to "New Ways to Foil Heart Attacks" (February 20), help arrived in time to save a life. The morning after I read the article, the director of social services at our nursing home, Sharon Haskell-Bush, commented off-handedly that her husband, Corey, had been complaining about unusual pain in his neck and gums, along with sporadic nausea and chest pressure. I immediately showed her your article delineating specific "smoke detector" warning signs, and she rushed off to find her husband. She took him, resisting, to the hospital, armed with Fortune. The hospital admitted him on the spot.

Because of your article we lost our director of social services for the day, but we managed to save her husband's life. We all thank you for such an enlightening article.

Robert N. Bua Assistant Administrator and Legal Counsel Brittany Farms Health Center New Britain, Connecticut

We're happy to have been of service. The Bushes, with dog Fletch, appear in photo above right.

COUNTERING COUNTERFEITING

"The Risks Are Rising in China" (March 6) admirably covered the political and economic aspects of the apparently intransigent problem of piracy. However, I am puzzled by your reference to the Nintendo-Samsung litigation. That litigation includes only Nintendo's U.S. subsidiary and is wholly unrelated to piracy in China. The case is focused on allegations of infringement in the U.S. of U.S. intellectual property rights. Samsung has sued Nintendo of America for falsely portraying Samsung as an infringer to the U.S. press.

Samsung in fact has a substantial interest in protecting its own technology from theft, as well as preventing the types of piracy referred to in the article, and we have successfully cooperated with other leading companies to develop ways of identifying potentially counterfeit copies of proprietary software.

Charles R. Donohoe Vice President and General Patent Counsel Samsung Electronics Co. Washington

FINDING THE 'PLACE' IN WORKPLACE

"Let's Hear It for the Office" (On Company Time, March 6) raises legitimate concerns about working at home, but to dismiss it out of hand and glorify "morale building around the water cooler" and soaking up corporate culture is absurd. Virtually all your concerns, from the sense of community to thoughts of career advancement, can be addressed by anyone serious about working out of the office. In fact, most of them have already been addressed by those who travel a great deal or operate remote offices.

As for your biggest worry, not gaining skills in working with each other face to face, technology in general, and not simply working at home, is isolating the individual from business and social contact. In the office itself much of our contact is over the telephone or through E-mail, even when the other parties are just down the hall.

What we call the workplace today (if the word "place" still pertains) is a relatively modern and artificial invention anyway. The workplace is experiencing some rapid changes; I'm not sure where they will take us, but it will almost certainly be away from the physical office.

Peter D. Varhol Nashua, New Hampshire

ON GROWING OLDER AND SHIFTLESS

I have really enjoyed reading your magazine. I myself had two businesses when I was a child. I am 14 now, and have very fond memories of when I was 7 and had a job in recycling. Every Saturday I would get my red wagon out of the garage and walk around my neighborhood collecting all my neighbors' recyclables. At the end of each month I would load them into the Volvo and my dad and I would head down to the recycling center. I made about $20 each time, and kept it up for over a year until the city started a program of its own.

A few years later, when I was 10, I started washing cars--first my parents' cars, then my relatives', then their friends', until finally I was getting $35 a wash (including wax and an interior cleaning). That was a very lucrative business, but I was finally deterred, either because I had to wash cars when it was below freezing or because I became a teenager and lost all ambition to work.

Ian Allen Bellevue, Washington

KISSING OFF KISSING UP

Re "Kissing Off Corporate America" (February 20): After putting up with the "reverse Darwinism" in corporate business for 25 years, I am striking out on my own. My only regret is that I was not smart enough or brave enough to do it at the same age as those in your article who are shunning big business. It may be scary out here all by myself, but I don't have to worry about kissing up to anyone but me!

If health insurance ever becomes as affordable or accessible as life insurance or homeowner's, and retirement savings tax-deductible, there will be an enormous exodus of highly qualified people out of America's biggest companies. All that will be left will be an army of incompetents who are expert at massaging their bosses' egos and failing at job performance.

Bernie Ness Sylvania Township, Ohio

"Kissing Off Corporate America" echoed many of our conversations with potential recruits at the nation's top graduate schools. However, large companies don't have to be the Darth Vaders of the work force. They can--and I believe they will--create environments that reflect the values and social conscience that young professionals are looking for today. Why? The market will demand it. Startups may have the work force halos right now, but it's only a matter of time before the Fortune 500 catch up.

Tamara J. Erickson Senior VP and Managing Director North American Management Consulting Arthur D. Little Cambridge, Massachusetts

CORRECTIONS

"PC Products That Can Change Your Life" (March 6) incorrectly suggested that IBM's OS/2 software automatically protects unsaved data during a computer crash. The best protection is to save files yourself and to frequently back up the contents of your hard disk. Also, "Managers at Their Best" (Books & Ideas, March 20) should have said that authors Jerry Jasinowski and Robert Hamrin compiled 50 case studies of manufacturers for Making It in America, not 15 as we reported. Fortune regrets the errors.

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COLOR PHOTO:GABE PALACIO "Because of your article we lost our director of social services for the day, but we managed to save her husband's life." [Sharon Haskell-Bush and Corey Bush.]