Linked: The Third Web
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Linked: The Third Web

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

Here’s the thing. I’ve been around the internet, and the Web, a long time. Long enough to remember when HTML was going to “democratize” publishing and when blogging was going to “democratize journalism” and when social media was going to be the thing that finally “democratized” the Web and gave everyone a voice.

None of that proved to be true. Each and every iteration of Internet technology eventually wound up with a couple of big winners, and some sort of monopoly.

What is it about Web3 that makes people think this will end any differently?

Linked: The Metaverse Via Oculus Is Awkward if You’re a Woman. And Beware of Griefers
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Linked: The Metaverse Via Oculus Is Awkward if You’re a Woman. And Beware of Griefers

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

Why it’s almost as if trolls will be trolls, creeps will be creeps, and people will continue to be everything they are on social media or yes, even in person. Because while those who seem to think that the virtual reality and presence of a real voice will somehow dim the hate and harassment that comes from a network where you can be anonymous, we can see plenty of real-life examples where being identifiable didn’t stop anyone from acting this way. I mean, half the folks who took part in Jan. 6 bragged about it on social media for days. Do you really think a little VR is going to make them suddenly self-conscious?

It’s a humanity issue, not a tech issue. No “new” tech that allows people to interact in real-time is going to be without it.

Linked: Windows 10 is a security disaster waiting to happen. How will Microsoft clean up its mess?
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Linked: Windows 10 is a security disaster waiting to happen. How will Microsoft clean up its mess?

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 3 minutes

Ed Bott raises an interesting question about people using PCs that don’t meet the requirements in terms of hardware security for Windows 11 but who own otherwise perfectly fine computers. In 2025, when Microsoft stops patching Windows 10, how many computers will still be out there, in use, connected to the internet, and vulnerable.

But in the quote above, Ed raises another point that maybe we should be thinking about more. What happens to all the hardware that is no longer supported as technology advances? It ends up in a landfill. That’s not good. That’s not even acceptable.

Linked: Crowd-Sourced Suspicion Apps Are Out of Control
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Linked: Crowd-Sourced Suspicion Apps Are Out of Control

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the last couple of years. We tend to think of the “Big Tech” apps and social networks as being the problem in the digital world, but really it’s all these little places too, because, as they describe, they don’t just keep us informed of actual events in our neighborhoods, they keep us informed of every single instance of something that someone finds suspicious.

This, in turn, makes us go from living in a relatively calm neighborhood to believing we are just one or two days away from the Purge.

Linked: The shortage of tech workers is about to become an even bigger problem for everyone
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Linked: The shortage of tech workers is about to become an even bigger problem for everyone

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 1 minute

The shift in tech skills is one of the contributing factors, but it’s not that technology has been changing, because that ALWAYS happens. It’s the insistence that employers can find people with a skill that didn’t even exist 2-3 years ago instead of actually developing the people they already have, or hiring people who can continue to adjust and learn these skills.

How many jobs are going unfilled because you’re looking for someone with expertise in a technology that has only been around for the last 1-2 years? How do you expect there to be a bunch of experts on this technology? How do you expect recent graduates to be familiar with the technology that their college curriculum hasn’t even caught up to yet?

It’s not possible. So you might want to start adjusting your hiring, recruitment, and staff development processes, because that’s how you shrink the talent gap, by creating the talent yourself.