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When we get Komooted

bikepacking.com

251–260 of 275 posts

Re: When we get Komooted

#251

Other than entirely community-driven projects (like https://wanderer.to/ mentioned in the article), are there company "forms" that legally protect against this kind of sell-out? Like non-profit or public-benefit-corporation? If users are contributing the content of the app, it seems they should have a way to hold the owners accountable.

There are non-profit corporations which seem on their face to address the issue, but not knowing much about how they work, it seems to me that it is often too easy to convert them to for-profit corporations, as happened with Raspberry Pi. I think in Europe a lot of open source organisations are "foundations" which seem to operate on similar principles. IMO non-profit or charitable status is a must for sustainable, op…

I’d you do some research into non-profits you’ll find there are tons of entirely legal ways to milk them for profit, legally.

Easiest? Pay yourself a nice fat salary and use most of the rest of the money to hire “nonprofit management companies” which may or may not be you or your friends in a cheap costume.

Re: When we get Komooted

#252
post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay. Why not? This isn't an argument. You aren't making any argument. Because, to me, this sounds good. Okay, so let's do it. Seems pretty simple and straightforward. I mean, I want a 401K. Employers should provide that. Okay, then let's do that. They... aren't responsible? Don't we make the laws? Let's just force them to be responsible. Problem solved. I'm happy, you're happy, everyone is happy. Do you, like, aspir…

I aspire to be paid for my labor. Forcing employers to handle things like health insurance and retirement plans is just stupid. It's a waste of resources, detracts from their core mission, and slows down economic growth. I would prefer to handle those things myself without an employer getting involved.

The problem is you're not explaining how this would be a preferable situation. Youre mistakenly assuming that if employers don't provide things like 401K match or whatever that instead you would pocket that money.

I have no reason to believe that to be the case. In fact, everything I've seen in my life makes me confident that is not the case. This reads like self-sabotage.

Re: When we get Komooted

#253
post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not an equal transaction - it's like a child negotiating with an evil sorcerer. The reality is that you have little to no power or leverage in labor relationships. You may think you do, because it is very valuable to the other party for you to believe as such. But you do not. Things being purely transaction can work when it's a fair transaction. When your life is on the line and the other party is risk fuck-all,…

The reality is that if you equate a typical employer with an "evil sorcerer" you're so disconnected from reality that you have nothing of value to contribute here.

That's not what I did, please read more carefully.

The power dynamic and information dynamic is that of a child compared to a sorcerer. The sorcerer knows all, and does not need the child. They can turn the child into a frog, and the child cannot perform any magic in retaliation.

You must realize your leverage is close to non-existant in negotiations. You are, frankly, irrelevant, and of the negotiations you can attempt you must do so with just a tiny fraction of the information required.

You hold none of the cards. I'm not even sure how this could be controversial - its just plainly true. Denying reality is one thing, aspiring to something that harms you is another.

Re: When we get Komooted

#254
post #35

> Komoot, to them, was more than a job; it was a mission and purpose. Many had accepted below-average salaries and uprooted their lives to commit to the outdoor lifestyle and the dream job. Suddenly, they were left scrambling for new work and visa sponsors with just a few months’ pay as severance. The six bosses, meanwhile, pocketed an estimated 20 to 30 million euros each. That’s why, and call me unethical, I never…

This approach doesn't work ethically if you are working for (say) public service organisations. There's also the argument an abundance of cynicism - as well as being occasionally aimed at a misjudged target (eg you work for bosses who do try to do the right thing) - is corrupting to the self and wider society.

Somewhat disagree. If a public service organization is demanding more than that approach, it either needs to hire more people, or manage projects more effectively. I'll take a lower salary for public service, but it doesn't help anyone for me to burn out.

Re: When we get Komooted

#255
post #232
post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those percentages are all too high for a normal salery.

The definition of “100%” varies. In U.S. even though a full-time job is “40 hours”, many in non-government jobs put in more. The “120%” spoken of would be 48, so let’s say roughly 2 extra hours a day, so 7:30-18:30 with an hour lunch. Tech startups in my experience are usually 44-46 hours for low-mid IC dev or more if higher or any lead/manager responsibilities. Some dev/IT managers may be on-call most of the week. B…

If a country expects 40+ hours on average then they should also expect an inverted demographic pyramid within a generation or two. Many such cases. It's a great way to commit national seppuku.

Re: When we get Komooted

#256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm gonna copy paste a comment I wrote yesterday that I think fits perfectly here: As an engineer if you are gonna be a rank and file employee you need to do it for your own reasons. I think the main good reasons to do it are: 1. It's relatively chill and you value the stability. You deliver competence from 9-5 then go home to your family or some other thing that's more important to you than work. 2. You really enjoy…

4. Golden handcuffs

Or the combination of 1 and 4. If a company is willing to pay you a lot of money for “9 to 5”, there’s all the reasons in the world to just take it.

Re: When we get Komooted

#258
post #5

I don't feel like I've been Komooted. There are alternative apps that I'll switch to. However, it really sucks for employees. I know a guy who joined Komoot a few weeks before the sale, and who was among 80% fired right after the sale finalised. They've been negotiating the terms of sale and hiring people simultaneously -- that's just insane.

Recommend any alternatives?

RideWithGPS

Re: When we get Komooted

#259

If anyone is interested i develop a free and open source alternative to komoot. I am currently using it for a 6 months trip in Europe : https://github.com/Akylas/alpimaps The idea of it is to be able to do everything offline, from map browsing to route computing, elevation profile... I am 99% sure i use the same library for route computing which is the amazing Valhalla computing framework. It propose multiple routes…

The key feature for me -- and one reason why I've used Komoot, is to sync routes with my Wahoo bike computer.

Re: When we get Komooted

#260

I see a lot of love for Komoot but for me that died when their "top 10 ride in " had a bunch of auto-generated routes linking points of interests, that tried to take me through horrible paths or 4 lane roads.

Yeah; though I've always just ignored that and used it to create my own cycling routes and sync with my Wahoo bike computer. With this news I'll switch to Ride with GPS for that.
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