WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera • Hacker News Board

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

#121

Post by parliament32 » Thu, Aug 15, 2019, 7:10 PM UTC

SkyPuncher wrote: post #32

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 don't see the issue. The password isn't to protect you against other WeWorkers, it's to exclude people on the outside. Personally, I think any attempt at them to provide serious security on the shared network would be a really bad idea. It'd make people feel comfortable but somebody would find a hole and suddenly have access to a ton of devices. If security is an issue, just use a VPN/Wireguard.

In addition, enterprise WPA (802.1x) doesn't work like that. In WPA-Personal, if you have the password (PSK) and capture the handshake (easy), you have easy decryption of any other clients' traffic. In WPA-Enterprise, all the connections are segregated (because the handshake uses your certs and mutual auth).

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

#122

Post by hombre_fatal » Thu, Aug 15, 2019, 7:12 PM UTC

freehunter wrote: post #115

roland35 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

I think it would be amazing to see a co-working brand have locations absolutely everywhere, like 24 hour gyms. One price gets you into any of them and they're all the same. It would help with customer retention because they've already paid $300/mo to get in, so if they move or travel they're not paying someone else. They're sticking with you. I'm surprised WeWork locations are so few and far between, while Snap Fitne…

Everyone needs to exercise.

WeWork appeals to a tiny fraction of the workforce.

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

#123

Post by ericabiz » Thu, Aug 15, 2019, 7:12 PM UTC

freehunter wrote: post #115

roland35 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

I think it would be amazing to see a co-working brand have locations absolutely everywhere, like 24 hour gyms. One price gets you into any of them and they're all the same. It would help with customer retention because they've already paid $300/mo to get in, so if they move or travel they're not paying someone else. They're sticking with you. I'm surprised WeWork locations are so few and far between, while Snap Fitne…

The Coworking Visa already allows this: http://coworking.com/visa

As an added benefit, it's run by some of the people who were originally behind coworking, before WeWork came onto the scene.

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

#124

Post by basch » Thu, Aug 15, 2019, 7:12 PM UTC

skrebbel wrote: post #109

Kalium wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the network is open, your machine may be open to being sent traffic - or attacked - from other devices on the network.

How is this not true on an encrypted wifi or even an old-school wired office LAN?

Its one checkbox to turn on device isolation. It's not perfect, but suddenly no device can see any other device.

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

#125

Post by stronglikedan » Thu, Aug 15, 2019, 7:13 PM UTC

rhizome wrote: post #68

baxtr wrote: post #45

The Verge simply doesn't get it. WeWork will leverage their real estate assets and come up with an AI-based cryptocurrency to monetize their community base. They will call it "The Country of We." Just wait for it. The time will come.

Put it on the WeChain.

And discuss it on WeChan.

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

#126

Post by novok » Thu, Aug 15, 2019, 7:13 PM UTC

afarrell wrote: post #50

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But we don't call, say, banks tech companies. A huge portion of their business requires sophisticated technical infrastructure they create themselves, but we just call them banks. And there are plenty of normal taxi companies with similar systems to Uber's.

People call Monzo a tech company.

'fintech' specifically. It's almost a style designator.

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

#127

Post by com2kid » Thu, Aug 15, 2019, 7:13 PM UTC

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…

The Wi-Fi at the WeWork I'm at is blazing fast, even in an open office with a 4 or 5 dozen laptops + cell phones connected.

I can get 20-40MB/s, not the fastest I've seen, when I was plugged into gigabit at MSFT I could basically saturate my network card, but far faster than my home connection and good enough for any possible need my development laptop has.

TBF to your complaints, I am mostly stationary, and the WeWork labs floor I'm on doesn't have very many walls, but I've roamed video calls before and not had an issue.

(The space I'm in is super new though, it was constructed last November, so that may be part of the difference as well?)

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

#128

Post by novok » Thu, Aug 15, 2019, 7:14 PM UTC

nabnob wrote: post #116

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.

It's a property company that's planning tracking everything people do in their buildings. >WeWork's latest acquisition is a small software company with 24 employees. Euclid is a spatial analytics platform...Euclid's website says the company is "focused on redefining the workplace experience of the future." Translation: optimizing every aspect of the physical workplace so workers are their most productive. Euclid does…

It's a physical workspace analytics company! /s

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

#129

Post by novok » Thu, Aug 15, 2019, 7:15 PM UTC

OJFord wrote: post #18

browningstreet wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mostly agree with you, but I think what's happening here is reminiscent of the e-commerce vs brick&mortar debates from years ago. Ultimately, Amazon started as an e-commerce business that has a whole ton of brick and mortar capital and infrastructure. For a long time, tech companies wanted to do everything virtually (apps, cloud, etc) and people NOT from the tech industry had an understanding of the brick & mortar…

> but a global infrastructure that has to stay up and takes payments in a lot of countries To play devil's advocate though, that's just the 'back office' updated to replace manual book keeping with automatic software. (Well, 'just'.) I think we can usefully describe companies as both 'tech-heavy company in the ' and ' company that uses tech' depending where the emphasis should be for a particular sentence. It just do…

Google is 'just' replacing library card catalogs with software :p

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

#130

Post by vanadium » Thu, Aug 15, 2019, 7:17 PM UTC

ZainRiz wrote: post #101

@patio11 is a huge fans of their business model: "I think this and remote work are the best bull case for WeWork. In 2025, every Fortune 500 company will have 10k+ remote workers, and every purchasing department will approve a reimbursement for WeWork with no questions asked." https://twitter.com/patio11/status/1161796809741627392

> "[...] every purchasing department will approve a reimbursement for WeWork with no questions asked."

I think this is just a smidge over-optimistic, considering what I know of finance teams at companies I've worked at, past and present.

Here in Midwest population centers, remote work is starting to become more widely adopted from a "work from home" perspective. The moment there's an expense report attached to pay for another office space, you're coming into HQ and that remote work arrangement is going to be reviewed rather quickly.