By now, we all realize that the best technology doesn`t always win. When people adopt, they adopt for various reasons - ego, ease, networking ability, popularity, coolness factor, etc. When VHS won over Beta, and when PC`s won over Mac`s, it was mostly attributed to the marketing efforts. Both VHS and IBM were aggressive in getting their technology to market fast.

More recently, the iPod took over the market because, among other reasons, the add-ons (or Seth Godin`s `Free Prize Inside`) available and the easy interface of iTunes. There are many other MP3 players in the marketplace, but the iPod came in and made digital music the rule rather than the exception. Larger memory capacity allows people to put their entire CD collection into a portable device. I know that I appreciate the ease of carrying all of my favourite songs in my pocket. While travelling, I just plugged an iTrip into my iPod and put it on shuffle - the amount of CDs I would have needed to have the same selection would have filled my little car.

The iPod, blogs and collaborative networks grew (and are growing) in popularity, not just because they are new and cool, but because they are disruptive. Carrying our entire CD collection on a small portable device disrupts our previous idea of music (and the music industry has yet to understand this - they just attempt to stop the disruptions rather than come up with more disruptions). Blogs disrupt the idea of where information and news comes from. Collaborative networks disrupt business as usual - many businesses not understanding how to adopt it because they think of how to make money first and collaborate second.

Digital formats, in general have disrupted many of the previous formats we use. Look at digital photography. Camera companies keep trying to come up with printers that make it easier and easier to print your digital photographs, photo printing outlets give you the option of printing your shots through big machines - but printing out photographs is passe. It isonline photo networks and photo sharing that understood the true disruptiveness of digital photography.

The key to success in the new economy is to disrupt the old economy. You can invent the tools that change the way we think about music, photography, networking, information, etc. or you can create networks that understand the disruptionn caused and exploit it.

I rather like disruption. It keeps life interesting and the imagineation tweaked. It`s quite `rogue`.