Sorry, no ill intent, I thought the technical meaning was common knowlwdge on HN, since the technical meaning is where the term originated. I was actually afrai

Sorry, no ill intent, I thought the technical meaning was common knowlwdge on HN, since the technical meaning is where the term originated. I was actually afraid I was being condescending by referencing the source. But I only introduced it in my 4th comment in the debate, and clarified it in the next one, when I sensed there might be a misunderstanding. I didn't use it at the "beginning" of the debate. The definition is central to the debate. I see now it's hard for us to discuss this, as disruptive vs. sustaining determines whether the incumbent (Oracle) or entrant (AWS) wins. The debate turns on the distinction. "Disruption" is just a theory, doesn't have a perfect track record, and I sense you're not interested in it, but the original research on the hard disk drive market was pretty influential, about how some dramatic tech changes in e.g. the magnetic surface made no difference to who led the market ("sustaining"), while changes in form-factor (8", 5.25", 3.5" etc) "disrupted" the market by changing who bought them and why... and also changed who led the market. Wikipedia on "the innovator's dilemma" is a pretty good summary, IIRC. It's a shame a misunderstanding has prevented you from participating in a discussion. I thought we were reaching the crux of the issue... oh well. It was interesting to me, at least.