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WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

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Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#71

Post by gnopgnip »

duxup wrote: post #62

I'm not very knowledgeable about WeWork... but what exactly do they bring to the table that wasn't being done before business wise? They just seem to have office space like any other company that might. Presumably the properties they bought or lease or whatever were somewhat profitable before ... but now WeWork owns them and ... doesn't make money? That seems, bad. I'm skeptical of say Uber's long term sustainability…

It is the same thing as other companies like Regus, but with VC funding so they can grow much faster.

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#72

Post by ak217 »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #40

> I am just going to drop The We Company’s org chart here because it honestly leaves me speechless... Indeed, I suspect that kind of a weird org chart of inter-related legal entities is pretty typical for a real estate company... because, as the OP suggests, that's really what they are.

Also morbidly fascinating is why real estate companies are so much more into compartmentalizing themselves into all these LLCs/LPs/corps. Most of the time they seem to do it to maximize the tax advantages and entitlements (and contain losses) in specific locales. In California, most commercial buildings are held by a trust designed to never transfer majority control, to preserve Prop 13 property tax breaks.

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#73

Post by jdhawk »

roland35 wrote: post #69
SamWhited wrote: post #66

This is the place where literally every one has the wifi password "P@ssw0rd" (or something similar, I forget) and instead of just connecting an HDMI cable to your laptop in the conference rooms you have to download some spyware that only works on Windows and Mac (despite the fact that their primary client is tech companies, many of whom use Linux or other OS's). Also never try printing, that just doesn't work, and th…

It seems like their isn't much benefit to brand loyalty here - I would imagine it is easy to simply do a google search for a short term work place in a new city if you need a change of scenery from the coffee shop!

Or they should create a network (like Free ATMs) and allow roaming to a limited extent.

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#74

Post by Chlorus »

ghaff wrote: post #61
Chlorus wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is a "proper service" in this case? Something like one of the 802.11 Enterprise modes that don't use a PSK and actually check against a user DB before handing out a session.

So now there’s significant complexity to getting on the network. Seems like a poor choice for a co-working space. And, as I say, plenty of large companies with competent IT departments don’t seem to think that’s necessarily. And how about when you’re having a meeting with outside people who need to get onto a network?

> So now there’s significant complexity to getting on the network

Not really, every OS (even Network Manager does a good job) has support for the WPA enterprise login flow. You basically get 1 prompt to trust a cert, then enter your username + pass (usually tied to AD) which you can save to your OS keychain. I've never had to fiddle with the one at my corporate network since first signing in months ago.

I don't know about the actual security benefits, but I do know it stops the typical "capture the handshake & game over"

> And how about when you’re having a meeting with outside people who need to get onto a network?

You set up a crappy rinky-dink "FooBarGuest" network with a PSK that has no real access to the rest of the network and pretty much can just be used for web browsing.

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#75

Post by roland35 »

SamWhited wrote: post #67
duxup wrote: post #62

I'm not very knowledgeable about WeWork... but what exactly do they bring to the table that wasn't being done before business wise? They just seem to have office space like any other company that might. Presumably the properties they bought or lease or whatever were somewhat profitable before ... but now WeWork owns them and ... doesn't make money? That seems, bad. I'm skeptical of say Uber's long term sustainability…

As far as I can tell the only benefit they provide over other smaller coworking spaces (most of which are a lot better) is that there are a lot of them. You can get a mebership at a WeWork in Austin, then pop into the one in Tokyo to get some work done while you're visiting. That being said, that's probably not worth the expense, terrible technology, or loudness of weworks for most people.

They don't seem to focus much on the 'digital nomad' side of things either, so I am not sure if that is a big part of their benefits! I'd imagine most of their customers only use local weworks.

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#76

Post by namibj »

ghaff wrote: post #61
Chlorus wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is a "proper service" in this case? Something like one of the 802.11 Enterprise modes that don't use a PSK and actually check against a user DB before handing out a session.

So now there’s significant complexity to getting on the network. Seems like a poor choice for a co-working space. And, as I say, plenty of large companies with competent IT departments don’t seem to think that’s necessarily. And how about when you’re having a meeting with outside people who need to get onto a network?

It's not hard to automate guest accounts.

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#77

Post by bspammer »

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #24
UncleMeat wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wifi is largely insecure anyway. You should largely assume that the network is malicious no matter what and just rely on application layer security.

Not everybody knows or appreciates the use of a VPN. I don't think yours is enough justification for WeWork for not having built a proper service.

Application layer security doesn't just mean VPNs. What websites are you connecting to with sensitive information that don't use HTTPS with HSTS preload nowadays?

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#78

Post by skrebbel »

tedivm wrote: post #7

For the number of engineers they have you'd think they'd have figured out how to build a decent wifi network with some actual security in it. Instead every WeWork has the same password for the wifi (literally a variant on `P@ssw0rd`) and it is super easy to spy on other people's connections. The hilarious thing is they actually built a secure wifi network for their staff, so they clearly recognize the need. They also…

I thought I knew this stuff, but now I'm not so sure anymore. If I take care to only visit https sites, what's the risk in being on an open network or a network with a stupid password?

They can see what domains I connect to and when, but that's it, correct? No MITM, no further snooping, right?

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#79

Post by rhizome »

rootusrootus wrote: post #9
jakelazaroff wrote: post #2

I wonder when this trend of calling companies "tech companies" — just because they happen to use technology — will end. WeWork clearly is a real estate company; Uber is a taxi company with an app; etc.

I agree on WeWork, but Uber is clearly not a taxi company. They're closer to being a mobile app developer, though that still feels like it falls short of an accurate description.

Uber is a taxi company that replaced the taxi industry's global pain point: dispatchers, with an app. Secondary: medallions (which are eventually coming back via regulation).

How they populate their inventory of drivers is not particularly special. You used to be able to drive a hack for a few hours and lose money doing it, too. That part hasn't changed, you can just lose that money driving your own car now.

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#80

Post by chrischen »

skrebbel wrote: post #78
tedivm wrote: post #7

For the number of engineers they have you'd think they'd have figured out how to build a decent wifi network with some actual security in it. Instead every WeWork has the same password for the wifi (literally a variant on `P@ssw0rd`) and it is super easy to spy on other people's connections. The hilarious thing is they actually built a secure wifi network for their staff, so they clearly recognize the need. They also…

I thought I knew this stuff, but now I'm not so sure anymore. If I take care to only visit https sites, what's the risk in being on an open network or a network with a stupid password? They can see what domains I connect to and when, but that's it, correct? No MITM, no further snooping, right?

If you run local dev servers and expose them they could be accessed.

Also IP addresses and domain names you visit are visible.

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