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It is related to tech companies. Shipping has much to do with Order Fulfillment and Order Fulfillment has to do with package tracking, billing, payment tracking and the entire business which runs on top of technology.
So, even though shipping doesn't seem very technical it really is. And Amazon is one of the largest technically innovative companies. They started selling books and now have their own computing devices. Isn't that amazing.
And all of that was built upon this huge IT thing which was initially related only to shipping / fulfillment.
They did it so well because of their IT systems that they've grown and thrived.
However, if you take away some of their advantages, like free shipping, then maybe they are less recognized and wouldn't have been able to get to the place they are at.
This, of course, is a balance, but it has all been built because they were extremely innovative via technology.
If someone regulated them in any one of many ways then maybe they wouldn't have been able to be so innovative and move to the next level.
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Well, but isn't the shipping handled by huge logistics companies?
While you're surely right that they are extremely innovative via technology, it's only one side of the story. They started selling books and now they want to dictate the publishing sector. And all that is also build on exploiting their employees. Let's not forget about this. Competitive advantages like free shipping are only possible because they are so big and get special contracts with their logistic partners, something a small webshop is not able to do and therefore it makes sense to try and protect the small fish from the big ones.
Just my two cents. Anyways, that's not been the point. What I meant is that the love/hate thing is not really about the technology (product) but the circumstancas (privacy, marketing, etc.).
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Yes and no. The actual haul it around on trucks/planes part is still outsourced; Amazon's wins have come from warehouse packaging efficiency, and optimizing the contents of and placement of its warehouses to simultaneously minimize the distance that shipped goods will have to travel (despite living in the boonies, a majority of my purchases are now next day truck freight) along with the amount of stock held waiting to be shipped.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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FIorian Schneidereit wrote: Telling from the article, it doesn't seem to be about technology in general. It's about privacy issues, competitive advantages, and worker's rights. Of course, Europeans seem to take all of them a little more serious.
Agree
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Wait for UBER-Code to replace your job by providing cheaper code...
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Of course this debate is a great one because it is a double-edged sword and it cuts both ways.
But allow me to give an example.
I watched a documentary on Briggs & Stratton, small engine maker for over 100 hundred years, started in US.
They were moving manufacturing over seas to China.
They interviewed a worker and she said, "I always thought I'd have a job and now they're making me train my Chinese counterparts and my job will end next month."
Then they showed exactly what she did. This is the important part. She screwed two bolts into an engine block.
That's it. Her "talent" was the ability to screw two bolts in and she "thought she'd always have a job".
What?
Do you believe the company should continue to pay the woman $60,000USD + benefits to screw two bolts in?
On the one hand we have a human issue: the woman needs a job. She is human and should be valued.
On the other hand we have a person of very limited vision thinking she'd always have a job.
And the company cannot continue to pay her this huge salary as margins of profit dwindle because of economic reasons. Investors do not want to buy stock in a company that has no profit because the employee salary eats up all of the profits.
She should've been training for the day that a robot would come along an replace her, but she did not.
There's more too. Imagine if everyone just thought, "well, we can just hire people to screw bolts in" instead of thinking, "how can we innovate?" If you guarantee the person a job, then you never want to innovate because you have a law saying, "the woman will always be allowed to screw the two bolts in and any other mechanized method is illegal." It is a negative incentive to innovation.
Now, don't think about this being Briggs & Stratton.
Imagine, if you can, you start your own business. You are a sole proprietor and you have to make ends meet.
However, you are unable to go into business because the government has decided that you have to hire a woman at $60,000 to screw two bolts in, even though the technology exists to do that work by paying for a $10,000 robot one time.
Which one would you pick?
Which one would you have to pick, because you cannot afford the other?
Right, the best pick would be the human, in the perfect world. But this unfortunately is not that perfect world which states, "the worker is worthy of his wages".
All people should be valued, but it is not necessarily money that they should be valued with. But in this imperfect world that is what we live on.
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Microsoft is always looking for ways to improve its browser and with growing pressure from Google Chrome and Firefox, there is no time to waste when it comes to pushing out new features. And to no surprise, Microsoft has big plans for its next major update to Internet Explorer, which will arrive with Windows Threshold. "I wish developing great products was as easy as writing a check ... if so, then Microsoft would have great products."
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Why do we like flat so much now?
I HATE chrome.
HATE.
And I'm otherwise a sweet fuzzball. 
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Flat's the new black, that was the new gradient, that was the new battleship grey.
TTFN - Kent
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Yeah?
Bleah anyway.
Have a wonderful Friday regardless. 
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Ron Anders wrote: I HATE chrome.
For better or worse everyone is now copying it or copying certain features, sometimes not with a great deal of thought.
But if you really don't like it there are other options out there.
Kevin
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Scientists are a step closer to creating quantum computers after making light behave like crystal. "She blinded me with science!"
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Today, Yahoo announced plans to release new documents detailing its legal fight with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). "Blackmail is such an ugly word. I prefer extortion."
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Since its creation, Code.org‘s mission has been to get coding into curriculums for students as schools nationwide. Today, the nonprofit group is launching Code Studio, a combined set of tools and curriculum to get students in kindergarten through high school interested in the underlying concepts behind coding through guided lesson plans. "You who are on the road must have a code that you can live by."
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No tech worker is an island. A recent productivity impact study reveals work efficiency is impacted negatively by co-workers. Or are they just stealing your lunch? I know you're doing it Shane. I can see you doing it.
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Mozilla takes the wrapping paper off a project that could one day make Web developer's lives much easier by allowing them to build once and test everywhere. "Debugging across devices can be a real pain." Ya think?
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If you’ve done any app or game development in the last 10 years, you certainly recognize the criticality and power of third party components. With these components you can add all sorts of amazing functionality to your app with little to no additional coding. Shorter version: "Developers, developers, developers!"
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A leaked build of what Microsoft might distribute as its soon-to-be-released Windows Threshold Enterprise Tech Preview (aka Windows 9) provides a snapshot of the next version of Windows. "Pics or it didn't happen"
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they aren't going to let go of tiles just yet are they.
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Tiles are the way of the future. If you don't believe me, just ask Microsoft!
Just because the code works, it doesn't mean that it is good code.
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“The home of the future is not about the technology and not about being smart and connected,” he said. “It’s about it working in a way that you don’t notice the technology and giving you the right options at the right time. It’s about adapting to you.” It's because it's really cosy. I like what you've done with it.
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There isn’t a single overarching theme (like Generics, LINQ, async/await), but there are a lot of features that enhance your productivity both writing and reading C# code. "I program my home computer. Beam myself into the future"
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I see a lot fancy new crap that brownfielders can get used to in this preview.
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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Await in catch / finally blocks and the null-propagation operator look quite handy.
Exception filters? I can see the argument that VB has them, so C# should have them too. But I don't think I've ever encountered a situation where I've thought, this would be much easier / cleaner with exception filters.
Everything else just looks horrible. But I guess that's just another sign I'm getting old.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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Well I think most of the enhancements looks promising - especialy null propagation and primary constructors. Both makes code shorter and more clear. Exception filtering looks kind of short-hand of "if (e is MyException) {...}.
Why not remove the break-need in the end of switch-case's. I don't see why break is needed - should break out when the next case begins - or?
That is what I can think of.
Michael Pauli
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