Business Revolutionaries Learn Diplomacy’s Value

Business Revolutionaries Learn Diplomacy’s Value - New York Times: "Many a hard-charging start-up has taken aim at old-line industries but has wound up shut down (Webvan, for example), bought out ( Napster) or chronically losing money ( TiVo). Even the company’s name sends a reassuring message. Most of its current rivals — companies like eCollege.com, Desire2Learn, and Jenzabar — have identities that underscore their roots in the Internet era.

Blackboard’s software, now used by well over 10 million students and their professors, has all the earmarks of a “disruptive technology” — a blend of computing and Internet-based connectivity with the potential to transform how established institutions operate."