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A comment on Munchery Shuts Down. Parent comment

Re:Munchery Shuts Down by solveit on Monday January 21, 2019 @11:39PM (#18966034)
The point is that the boundaries are being blurred. Is Amazon a tech company? Is Netflix? Is Netflix a tech company if they mailed you CDs instead of streaming the material?

Doing anything at scale pretty much turns you into a tech company these days.

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Re:Munchery Shuts Down by twblalock on Monday January 21, 2019 @11:46PM (#18966060)
No, doing things that you could not do without the benefit of technology is what makes you a tech company. Obviously you can stretch the definition of technology to mean pretty much anything if you are not arguing in good faith.

I think all of us in 2019 have a fairly standard consensus understanding of what technology means in the context of this conversation and it would not be good to hijack that to mean anything you want it to mean.

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Re:Munchery Shuts Down by manigandham on Tuesday January 22, 2019 @12:10AM (#18966124)
>> stretch the definition of technology to mean pretty much anything

The actual definition[1][2][3] of technology is applied science and knowledge for practical means. Narrowing the scope to fit arbitrary companies seems like the real stretch to me.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology

2. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/technology

3. https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/engi...

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Re:Munchery Shuts Down by swish_bob on Tuesday January 22, 2019 @07:49AM (#18967862)
So, when colour television was the cutting edge of technology, the TV companies were tech companies?
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Re:Munchery Shuts Down by manigandham on Tuesday January 22, 2019 @12:15AM (#18966140)
No, there is no "tech company".

Amazon is retail, like Walmart has been. Netflix is media production and distribution, like Fox has been. Both have figured out new business models but that doesn't change the business that they're in.

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Re:Munchery Shuts Down by IWeldMelons on Tuesday January 22, 2019 @06:54AM (#18967624)
Blurry boundaries do not mean no boundaries. Amazon, with their AWS services is squarely a tech company. Netflix arguably a bit less than say above-mentioned Amazon, but they do heavily depend on technology and innovate in that sphere, however are certainly less tech company than Xilinx, Motorola or International Rectifier, but certainly more than Domino or Papa Johns.
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Re:Munchery Shuts Down by swish_bob on Tuesday January 22, 2019 @07:47AM (#18967853)
Netflix are a Media company.

They leverage some damn impressive technology, but their business is about delivering media for end user consumption, much like any of the TV companies during most of the 20th century, for example.

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Re:Munchery Shuts Down by IWeldMelons on Tuesday January 22, 2019 @08:07AM (#18967944)
They can be both. I would not myself call Netflix call a tech company, but many people would, and I kinda see why. Munchery-punchery, OTOH are not technical at all, but certainly are hip.
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