I liked John Naughton’s article, Pitiful spectacle of an old DOS trying to do new tricks, in yesterday’s Observer newspaper – not least for the witty title, but also for his analysis of Microsoft’s ‘On Demand’ vision announced last week (see my post).
He mentions Harvard academic Clayton Christensen, who looked at why successful companies can fail to cope with disruptive technologies. "[He] shows that even well-managed firms with established products miss the next big wave in their industries unless their leaders know when to abandon their traditional business practices." ‘How can great firms fail?’ Naughton asks, before closing: "Watching Gates and co fudging the issue of web services on Tuesday suggested a simple answer: easily."
