July 16, 1992

Is nothing sacred in the computer world? For years, Apple and Microsoft have been at odds with each other, battling -- sometimes bitterly -- in forums ranging from the marketplace to the courtroom. In the last month, for example, an Apple advertising campaign has lambasted Microsoft's Windows program as being inferior to Macintosh software.

The Economy Telephone companies will be able to transmit television programming to homes over their telephone lines, under a rule the F.C.C. will adopt today. The move that could lead to formidable competition for cable television companies. [ Page A1. ] Companies would have to value more of their investments at market value under a compromise proposal from the Financial Accounting Standards Board. The intent is to avoid problems like those in the savings and loan crisis. [ D1. ]

Doctors excised a large but benign tumor from Pope John Paul II's colon and removed his gallbladder early today in an operation lasting almost four hours and marked by secrecy. The Pope was said to have "tolerated the operation well" but is expected to remain in the hospital for about 10 days to recover.

Last night, for a few sweet, fleeting moments, they finally let the Democrats be Democrats. The managers at Madison Square Garden let former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. of California, the Peck's Bad Boy of this year's politics, spell out his plans to overturn the nefarious American "system." They asked Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts to evoke the glow of Camelot once more.

Responding to criticism over his endorsement of Ross Perot for President, the Rev. Calvin O. Butts 3d, pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, made a rare attack on a fellow black political leader yesterday as he lashed out at his critics. Mr. Butts strongly denounced Congressman Charles B. Rangel of Harlem, saying he found appalling Mr. Rangel's use of the term "white cracker" in describing Mr. Perot. In a further reproach, Mr. Butts suggested that social and economic conditions in Harlem had declined substantially during Mr. Rangel's tenure in Congress, compared with that of the late Adam Clayton Powell, who served as pastor of Abyssinian and who Mr. Rangel defeated to win the Congressional seat. Critical of Democratic Party Explaining his support of Mr. Perot, Mr. Butts said that he had abandoned the Democratic Party because it continues to ignore the needs of blacks and that Mr. Perot represents a viable alternative for black voters because he would be a staunch defender and enforcer of civil rights.