Blackmoor Vituperative

The Spanish-American War has been over for more than 100 years, and now so is a portion of the tax imposed in 1898 to help fund it.

As of Tuesday, all phone companies selling long-distance phone service are legally required to eliminate the 3 percent federal excise tax on long-distance service. The last portion of the tax, pertaining only to local telephone service, remains in effect.

Companies can, and do, fall from the top rung all the time.

Microsoft is no different.

Remember when everyone bought IBM PCs? IBM isn’t even selling ThinkPads anymore. Are you too old to recall when everyone bought American-made cars? Today, General Motors and Ford keep shrinking, while Toyota and Honda keep expanding. I can also recall when Pan-American Airways was the American airline for international travel. Pan Am closed up shop in 1991.

No, if Microsoft wants to stay on top, the Evil Empire could stand to take some lessons from its most dangerous competitor — and that’s Linux.

(from Linux-Watch, Top five things Microsoft can learn from Linux)