Thanks from the originator of the "Why Massacheussetts?" posting

[Patrick O'Connell <titanide -at- MICRO -dot- ORG>]

PHEW! There certainly hasn't been any shortage of responses to my query
about Massacheussetts and its popularity with high-tech companies -- on
the list AND by private e-mail to me.

In a nutshell, the main reasons seem to be:

- The schools, the schools, the schools -- both as a source of qualified
graduates for established companies and a source of wanna-be Bill Gates's
trying to start up the next MicroSquish.

- The ocean / the mountains / etc. Scenery/environment-type stuff which
Mass. seems to have in abundance. I have seen some of this myself -- my
lady and I visited Cape Cod last year, so I don't dispute this.

About the tax thing: apparently personal taxes (income, sales, etc.)
compare..well, not favourably to those in other states, but not
unfavourably either. Most of the opiners said, effectively "No better, no
worse." I remembered, after posting my original question, that the
"Taxacheussetts" label I learned last year had come from someone who was
living and working in New Hampshire. There's a reason why NH state liguor
stores are so popular with Canadian tourists, eh?  :-)

At least one person agreed that there might be substantive corporate
tax breaks in Mass., and that individual taxpayers weren't too happy
about that. Someone else suggested those tax breaks had existed in the
past, but were no longer in effect.

All in all, this has been quite educational. All I can add to the debate
is this: I used to think Montreal (,Quebec, Canada) drivers were scary
until my lady and I drove through Mass. YIKES! Anyone from Ottawa, our
Milquetoastian nation's capital, wouldn't last 5 minutes...


l8r
PatO'
titanide -at- micro -dot- org