Uber

There's nothing particularly amazing about the tech. They got as big as they are through obscene amounts of capital investment and underhand tactics that fuelled growth in new markets. Force your way in, muscle out the competition, until the point that you're entrenched and it's incredibly difficult to get you out again.

The rise of Uber is all about the valorisation of growth as a measure of value above all else.

The fact that it's a shitty bro-culture tech firm is an unpleasant side detail, but not the reason that it made it so big.

[2022-02-19 Sat] Uber drivers entitled to workers' rights, UK supreme court rules | Technology…

From [[TWSU]] chat:

Apparently Uber are trying to spin this as only applicable to the plaintiffs? Ridiculous that this decision could be handed down and yet it will be left in the hands of regulators to actually crack down on Uber’s behaviour

Uber won’t accept anything until forced. It will be fascinating to see how this all plays out. It could have implications far beyond Uber.

My understanding is that it opens an arena for further confrontation, but that arena is in territory Uber wishes it weren't. It will require more struggle on the side of drivers to realise gains from this, but it's a big win in enabling them to advance that strugge.