5 ms·

Tech's broken promises: Streaming = confusing Ubers as much as taxis Cloud costs

43 points by hbcondo714 3y ago

woofcat 3y ago
Isn't this the natural order of how things go in tech? You burn millions or billions of dollars acquiring market share, then start pumping your customers for cash until they leave, or if you've done it right they can't leave. I'm still waiting for CloudFlare to become a $5/month subscription for my personal sites.
- WirelessGigabit 3y ago
  I think part of the reason Cloudflare is free for personal stuff is to harvest information. Information they otherwise wouldn't get.
  - Nextgrid 3y ago
    Alternatively, the more sites use Cloudflare the less peering ISPs will have to non-Cloudflare destinations. Eventually it could be that you need to be behind Cloudflare if you want any chance for your website to be reachable with reasonable bandwidth.
  - arcanemachiner 3y ago
    Come on now. Project Honey Pot would never stoop to such a level.
netfortius 3y ago
"Normal" cycle: change the business model to take out competition, then increase pricing.
thefounder 3y ago
I couldn't care less if Uber costs as much as taxis or even a bit more. Uber was selling a better UX and that has always been its main selling point. Not the price.
- croes 3y ago
  > was selling a better UX Isn't that the whole point? Was.
- paulddraper 3y ago
  Exactly. Anyone familiar with pre-Uber taxicabs knows this. Uber broke all sorts of laws but the existing system was so broken society collectively didn't even care.
gavman 3y ago
On the "glass half full" side, even if the price hasn't gone down, tech's managed to offer better products for the same price, which in itself is a positive. - Streaming is a much better experience than cable. I can watch anything I want whenever I want on whichever device I want. I don't need to rent a cable box. I don't need to schedule a technician to come to my house to start my service. - Uber / Lyft are a way better experience than taxis. I can call the device from my phone wherever I am. I get price certainty up front instead of the miserable experience of sitting anxiously watching the number on the meter go up. The app handles payment and I don't have to mess with the driver telling me the card reader is broken and he wants cash. The driver's GPS is integrated with my ride and I both don't have to tell the driver where to go and worry about them taking the scenic route to drive the fare up. Anyone who wants to go back to the world of cable / taxis is looking at the past with rose colored glasses. Tech has absolutely made both of those products better.
- croes 3y ago
  Sure? >Uber CEO stunned by $52 fare for 3-mile ride https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37000811 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37000811
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > Uber / Lyft are a way better experience than taxis. I know this is very dependent on where you are, but in my part of the US, this is not true.
  - rhaway84773 3y ago
    And to the extent it’s true it’s because they’ve been allowed to circumvent laws that were deliberately setup to limit the number of cabs on the street, and by flooding those streets with Ubers and Lyfts there’s a lot of research that shows that congestion and traffic has gotten much worse. So even if a specific Uber/Lyft ride might be better, the residents of a city have a much worse overall experience. And that’s without getting into how many of these drivers barely make ends meet, whereas driving a cab was a path to the middle class for millions of cab drivers for decades.
- 3y ago
vikramkr 3y ago
Idk if pinging like this works but @dang the title seems mangled on this one
- ShamelessC 3y ago
  I think it’s a mod edited title? In any case I agree it’s absolutely terrible.
- arcanemachiner 3y ago
  dang has said before that pinging does not work. There's an email address on the bottom of the page: hn@ycombinator.com
  - archo 3y ago
    '@dang' and 'by dang' only work as search items
mr_toad 3y ago
This headline makes me want to shout out one of Samuel L Jackson’s lines from Pulp Fiction.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
archo 3y ago
https://archive.is/qZKDw https://archive.is/qZKDw
ozfive 3y ago
Paying the same amount as cable to not have ads seems as though it's still better than cable...

43 points by hbcondo714 3y ago

Isn't this the natural order of how things go in tech? You burn millions or billions of dollars acquiring market share, then start pumping your customers for cash until they leave, or if you've done it right they can't leave. I'm still waiting for CloudFlare to become a $5/month subscription for my personal sites.

WirelessGigabit 3y ago
I think part of the reason Cloudflare is free for personal stuff is to harvest information. Information they otherwise wouldn't get.
- Nextgrid 3y ago
  Alternatively, the more sites use Cloudflare the less peering ISPs will have to non-Cloudflare destinations. Eventually it could be that you need to be behind Cloudflare if you want any chance for your website to be reachable with reasonable bandwidth.
- arcanemachiner 3y ago
  Come on now. Project Honey Pot would never stoop to such a level.

netfortius 3y ago

"Normal" cycle: change the business model to take out competition, then increase pricing.

thefounder 3y ago

I couldn't care less if Uber costs as much as taxis or even a bit more. Uber was selling a better UX and that has always been its main selling point. Not the price.

croes 3y ago
> was selling a better UX Isn't that the whole point? Was.
paulddraper 3y ago
Exactly. Anyone familiar with pre-Uber taxicabs knows this. Uber broke all sorts of laws but the existing system was so broken society collectively didn't even care.

gavman 3y ago

On the "glass half full" side, even if the price hasn't gone down, tech's managed to offer better products for the same price, which in itself is a positive. - Streaming is a much better experience than cable. I can watch anything I want whenever I want on whichever device I want. I don't need to rent a cable box. I don't need to schedule a technician to come to my house to start my service. - Uber / Lyft are a way better experience than taxis. I can call the device from my phone wherever I am. I get price certainty up front instead of the miserable experience of sitting anxiously watching the number on the meter go up. The app handles payment and I don't have to mess with the driver telling me the card reader is broken and he wants cash. The driver's GPS is integrated with my ride and I both don't have to tell the driver where to go and worry about them taking the scenic route to drive the fare up. Anyone who wants to go back to the world of cable / taxis is looking at the past with rose colored glasses. Tech has absolutely made both of those products better.

croes 3y ago
Sure? >Uber CEO stunned by $52 fare for 3-mile ride https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37000811 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37000811
JohnFen 3y ago
> Uber / Lyft are a way better experience than taxis. I know this is very dependent on where you are, but in my part of the US, this is not true.
- rhaway84773 3y ago
  And to the extent it’s true it’s because they’ve been allowed to circumvent laws that were deliberately setup to limit the number of cabs on the street, and by flooding those streets with Ubers and Lyfts there’s a lot of research that shows that congestion and traffic has gotten much worse. So even if a specific Uber/Lyft ride might be better, the residents of a city have a much worse overall experience. And that’s without getting into how many of these drivers barely make ends meet, whereas driving a cab was a path to the middle class for millions of cab drivers for decades.
3y ago

vikramkr 3y ago

Idk if pinging like this works but @dang the title seems mangled on this one

ShamelessC 3y ago
I think it’s a mod edited title? In any case I agree it’s absolutely terrible.
arcanemachiner 3y ago
dang has said before that pinging does not work. There's an email address on the bottom of the page: hn@ycombinator.com
- archo 3y ago
  '@dang' and 'by dang' only work as search items

mr_toad 3y ago

This headline makes me want to shout out one of Samuel L Jackson’s lines from Pulp Fiction.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

archo 3y ago

https://archive.is/qZKDw https://archive.is/qZKDw

ozfive 3y ago

Paying the same amount as cable to not have ads seems as though it's still better than cable...