There's a German expression that totally loses some “zing” in the translation that says: You can be old as a cow and still learn more. In the original language it rhymes perfectly, which probably is the genesis and perhaps charm of the expression, because cows generally don't live exceedingly long (about 15 years, I'm told, if they're not milked or don't wind up in a butcher shop). But the idea essentially is you're never too old to learn.

I learned a not very new term I hadn't heard before while chatting lately with a representative from an industry vendor. The term is co-opetition, and its origin often is credited to Raymond Noorda of Novell, who, according to Web site Co-opetition Interactive, explained: “You have to compete and cooperate at the same time.”

Another worthy quote on the site comes from Bernard Baruch: “You don't have to blow out the other fellow's light to let your own shine.” In other words, it's OK for a business to cooperate with its competitor, a concept that has been practiced for some time, certainly by many tech companies, including Microsoft.

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