"The dramatic response to the Metaverse reflects the growing belief that it the next great computing and networking platform, similar in scope to the transition from the personal computer and fixed-line internet in the 1990s to the era of mobile and cloud computing we live in today. That shift popularized a once-obscure business school term – "disruption" – and transformed almost every industry while reshaping modern society and politics. Yet there is a critical difference between that shift and the impending shift to the Metaverse: timing. Most industries and individuals did not foresee the significance of mobile and cloud, and consequently were stuck reacting to changes and fighting off distruption from those who better understood them. Preparations for the Metaverse are happening much earlier, and proactively."