After a period of consideration, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has decided that Uber is a transport service, just like any other taxi company. There is lot to say about Uber's use of untrained, non-professional drivers and other abusive practices.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday December 21 2017, @10:50AM (3 children)
1. Uber has merely improved on an ages old dispatching system
2. Limo of taxi company, either way, they are performing an ages old service - moving customers from point A to point B, for a fee. Also, the concept of casual labor is as old as the hills - Uber's drivers are doing nothing new, or different.
3. Nothing novel about a central dispatch system. A patent identical to an existing patent with "on a computer" is an invalid patent. Uber is mildly innovative, I'll grant that. But, as a carpenter, If I should find some innovative way of cutting my rafters to fit the top plate on top of the walls that makes the finished structure a little bit stronger, would that make me a "tech company"? Not only no, but HELL NO!
Better example for carpentry. Oklahoma has had some devastating tornadoes in recent years. The state did a study. They observed that many homes had simply been blown away, leaving nothing but the concrete slab behind. They wanted to know why one home was sheared off flush with the slab, and others had not. The simple fact that many homes had the top and bottom plates TOE-nailed into the studs made the difference. Nailing the plates straight into the studs allowed each individual nail to be pulled with a minimal force. Toe nailing two nails in opposite directions increased the force necessary to pull those nails back out by some huge factor. Multiply that force by however many dozens of studs are in the walls enabled many homes to remain in place, while their neighbors blew away.
Are those construction companies that used toe nailing "technology" companies?
Google is a technology company. As much as I hate to say it, Microsoft is a tech company. Uber, not so much. They only exploit technology that real tech companies create.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday December 21 2017, @02:44PM (2 children)
Novel application of technology, check.
So is any application of technology. Ignore what is actually done, then it doesn't actually do that much.
When again was toe-nailing developed? Why do you consider it novel technology now? Wikipedia says [wikipedia.org] nails go back to ancient Egypt (3400 BC). And you could do toe-nailing from then to now.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday December 21 2017, @03:11PM (1 child)
So, you're hung on that term, "novel". Tell me - if Uber's dipatch system is so novel, then how does the competition compete? Oh - maybe it's not so very novel, ehhh?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday December 21 2017, @03:19PM
With their own novel systems. There's a number of systems out there (including several in Europe). Lyft isn't the only competitor with some interesting new tricks.