UI/UX Articles and Interesting Tidbits of the Week
September//13//2024
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
Following a brief break.
1.
Immutable Operating Systems. Fascinating article from Chris Chinchilla on the topic of Immutable Operating Systems, which can be defined as “…is an operating system designed to be unchangeable and read-only” (read more on this definition here). This type of Operating System gains more traction and relevance, as cybersecurity and fears of reliability only increase. The article showcases some examples of these types of Operating Systems, namely Nix (and Nix OS), Ubuntu, Canonical’s Snapcraft, Fedora’s Silverblue, to name but a few. As the discussions regarding cyber security only get more dramatically present, this is well worth reading through. Highlight of the article includes:
“Trust is a central aspect throughout this discussion. The selling point of immutable operating systems is that they are trustworthy and secure. But why should you trust them? As Noury says, “immutability doesn’t necessarily mean security.” At base, the preventatives are that they allow you to test and roll back if there are problems, and that typically, services run in isolated sandboxes (be that containers or something else), meaning that any rogue service can have minimal impact on anything else.”
2.
Breaking Tech Monopolies. Another great article from The Next Web, this time around hailing from author Mark Boost. The article is a welcomed reflection on our collective reliance on solutions provided by Technology companies who nearly operate on a Monopoly stance. The author sparks this reflection by alluding to the problems the Crowdstrike issue created, and how lawmakers and regulators all over the world (or at least in the US and Europe) are looking with a closer attention to the power and control of the digital ecosystem that companies such as Google, Apple, Microsoft and so on operate on everyone’s lives. Well worth reading and reflecting. Highlight of the article includes:
“This global outage highlights the urgent need for change. We can no longer ignore the risks posed by concentrating so much power in the hands of a few companies. The reality is that our current digital infrastructure is far too reliant on these monopolies, leaving us vulnerable to both human errors and potential malicious attacks. Governments and regulators must take decisive action to dismantle the dominance of big tech. Let’s create a future where our digital landscape is not controlled by a small number of major tech companies but is instead a robust, secure, and resilient ecosystem that fosters innovation and growth. The US government’s consideration of breaking up major tech firms is merely the first step in what is likely to be a long and challenging road towards a more balanced and competitive digital world. If we do not act now to diversify our digital infrastructure, we are merely setting ourselves up for future disasters.”
3.
Cultivating Top Talent at a Scale. This is another fascinating read, coming from the perspective of QuantumLightCapital, a venture capital investor organization, and specifically from its founder, Nik Storonsky. This playbook documents and contextualizes how grooming great talent makes all the difference when it comes to establishing successful startups. The Playbook has three pillars, which have further detail, namely: Setting Foundations, Building Processes, Acting on Results. These pillars then funnel into various aspects such as Talent Philosophy, Career Trajectories, Performance Bonuses, to name but a few. Well worth investigating. Highlight of the article includes:
“Talent is a force multiple for a company — it shouldn’t sit under HR, but it should be a core priority of the CEO’s office. Early on, we found that a strong team of generalist problem solvers was best positioned to think about performance holistically (KPIs, incentives, talent framework) and build elegant, structured processes around it, instead of assigning different aspects of it to teams within HR. We recommend setting up a performance team (can be even just one person at the beginning) reporting directly to the CEO and looking at all aspects of performance separately from HR/recruitment.”
