Sentence:  Dotcom mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the venerable industry firmly in its grip. Since the <WSD>launch</WSD> early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  The act or fact of launching (a ship/vessel, a project, a new book, etc.).