The 10X rule of thumb holds in many areas where you have to overcome existing sunk cost, large market inertia, or a network effect.

I’d say it also holds for operating systems, network protocols, core tooling, etc.

The thing improved 10X might vary though, and for any niche there may be more than one thing that can be improved. Linux for instance displaced Windows NT by being both cheaper (technically free) and radically more flexible.