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Whilst the article is a deliberate lobby attempt to preserve the upgrade budget for the underground - it is amazing how individuals and organisations hold onto "the old ways" of doing things.
My favourite example is that Vasco de Gama reported the use of citrus fruits to prevent scurvy in 1497. The Royal Navy took until 1790 to finally adopt lemons as a preventative measure. The merchant navy a little longer - The Merchant Shipping Act in 1867 made it law that every service man should be given lime. The UK sailors were called "limeys" thereafter. Also in 1867 Lauchlin Rose patented a method of preserving lime juice without using alcohol. You can purchase Roses Lime Juice today for £1.65 in a large supermarket near you.
Adoption has its hurdles. One of the uses of wood pellets has been as animal bedding and cat litter. I am told reliably that wood pellets are more convenient to store, cheaper, and easier to use than straw or shavings for those that keep horses in stables. Whilst some have changed quickly - especially the commercially driven stables - the market will take some time before it is accepted as a good way forward for all.
Evidence collected by McKinsey consultants at the turn of the century suggested that the rate of creative destruction was increasing. ie people are getting quicker at adopting new solutions to problems and the information is more available. Perhaps Vasco de Gama did not really solve the problem of scurvy elegantly - that was Lauchlin Rose, but that was nearly 400 years later. Today we see replacement items with better specifications coming out every few months - I am not sure that that is really making significant improvements to our quality of lives - and can be termed "creative destruction" - but online shopping has and can be.
