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HOWTO Encourage Women in Linux

axod 18y ago
Sorry but this is mostly bs. It's not like anyone knows what gender you are online anyway. Girls and Boys like different things regardless of society. Get over it. We're built differently, and have different strengths and weaknesses. "We all know that most computer games are written by and for men." Maybe true a few years ago, certainly not now - "Petz" "hamsterz" "animal crossing" "Wii fit" "Nintendogs" etc etc. Nintendo probably makes more 'girl' games than they do 'boy' games.
- IsaacSchlueter 18y ago
  It's not like anyone knows what gender you are online anyway. But.. you still HAVE a gender. Just because you don't know who you're offending doesn't mean you aren't being offensive. We're built differently, and have different strengths and weaknesses. I tend to agree. Part of me doubts that linux/hacker/computer/nerd culture will ever be 50/50, but I've seen some of the do's and don'ts in the real world. Maybe true a few years ago, certainly not now Well, it was written in 2002.
- michaelneale 18y ago
  It seems that the single-mindedness of the male "hunters" mind suits working with computers quite well. You focus on annoying trivia to the exclusion of all else for a while and that is exactly what is needed. Females seem to be more balanced, and capable of many concurrent tasks, which makes them slightly less likely to allow themselves to be as obsessed as males are with computers. Of course all this is generalisation and doesn't apply to great chunks of people.. One other thing that seems to happen in the programming language world is testosterone charges debates/arguments. Thats not terribly attractive to 60% of the population, so that can't be helping either.
Prrometheus 18y ago
You almost have to be a hacker to use Linux. Linux demographics will mirror hacker demographics.
- cabalamat 18y ago
  Really? My brother's a businessman, not a programmer, and uses Linux on a daily basis (in fact, he started using it before me). I have lots of friends who use Linux; many of them are not programmers/hackers. Quite often my non-technical friends mention they are thinking of trying Linux (I advise them to go with Ubuntu). So while many, perhaps even most Linux users are hackers, many are just "normal" people using it to get a job done.
  - Prrometheus 18y ago
    It took days of forum diving to get Ubuntu up and running on my desktop. My wireless networking still doesn't work after following a handful of 20-step installation guides, compiling a few kernel modules, editing a few configuration files and the like. Eventually I gave up and strung a 100 ft. Cat 5 cable to the house router. If I weren't already so determined to use it, I would have given up and spent $99 on an XP disk a long time ago. That said, Ubuntu works great on my Lenovo laptop, not that you would know that from the gargantuan and labyrinthine hardware compatibility lists. Linux is hard. It takes commitment or an IT guy.
    - orib 18y ago
      It takes buying compatible hardware, and things will Just Work. With Windows, the manufacturers design their hardware to work with it. With MacOS, you can't run it on most hardware anyways. With Linux, you have to spend some care chosing hardware -- mainly wireless networking these days; Graphics are far better than they were about a year ago, since ATI released documentation. It doesn't take any effort to get Linux working on hardware that it claims to support. In fact, I find it far easier to get Linux working on supported hardware than Windows; the install is far smoother, there are no drivers to hunt down after the install, and the software that I care about is 90% preinstalled. the last 10% is just a click in a nice GUI away, and I don't have to search around the internet for a reliable source to download from.
      - Prrometheus 18y ago
pavelludiq 18y ago
There are probably many women in computing, just not that much famous ones, i guess.
Jem 18y ago
I love this part: "Don't treat women stereotypically" ...and yet further up the article: "since they have low self-confidence to begin with". Total crap. I can't believe this was written by a woman.
grahamg 18y ago
this is useless.

axod 18y ago

Sorry but this is mostly bs. It's not like anyone knows what gender you are online anyway. Girls and Boys like different things regardless of society. Get over it. We're built differently, and have different strengths and weaknesses. "We all know that most computer games are written by and for men." Maybe true a few years ago, certainly not now - "Petz" "hamsterz" "animal crossing" "Wii fit" "Nintendogs" etc etc. Nintendo probably makes more 'girl' games than they do 'boy' games.

IsaacSchlueter 18y ago
It's not like anyone knows what gender you are online anyway. But.. you still HAVE a gender. Just because you don't know who you're offending doesn't mean you aren't being offensive. We're built differently, and have different strengths and weaknesses. I tend to agree. Part of me doubts that linux/hacker/computer/nerd culture will ever be 50/50, but I've seen some of the do's and don'ts in the real world. Maybe true a few years ago, certainly not now Well, it was written in 2002.
michaelneale 18y ago
It seems that the single-mindedness of the male "hunters" mind suits working with computers quite well. You focus on annoying trivia to the exclusion of all else for a while and that is exactly what is needed. Females seem to be more balanced, and capable of many concurrent tasks, which makes them slightly less likely to allow themselves to be as obsessed as males are with computers. Of course all this is generalisation and doesn't apply to great chunks of people.. One other thing that seems to happen in the programming language world is testosterone charges debates/arguments. Thats not terribly attractive to 60% of the population, so that can't be helping either.

Prrometheus 18y ago

You almost have to be a hacker to use Linux. Linux demographics will mirror hacker demographics.

cabalamat 18y ago
Really? My brother's a businessman, not a programmer, and uses Linux on a daily basis (in fact, he started using it before me). I have lots of friends who use Linux; many of them are not programmers/hackers. Quite often my non-technical friends mention they are thinking of trying Linux (I advise them to go with Ubuntu). So while many, perhaps even most Linux users are hackers, many are just "normal" people using it to get a job done.
- Prrometheus 18y ago
  It took days of forum diving to get Ubuntu up and running on my desktop. My wireless networking still doesn't work after following a handful of 20-step installation guides, compiling a few kernel modules, editing a few configuration files and the like. Eventually I gave up and strung a 100 ft. Cat 5 cable to the house router. If I weren't already so determined to use it, I would have given up and spent $99 on an XP disk a long time ago. That said, Ubuntu works great on my Lenovo laptop, not that you would know that from the gargantuan and labyrinthine hardware compatibility lists. Linux is hard. It takes commitment or an IT guy.
  - orib 18y ago
    It takes buying compatible hardware, and things will Just Work. With Windows, the manufacturers design their hardware to work with it. With MacOS, you can't run it on most hardware anyways. With Linux, you have to spend some care chosing hardware -- mainly wireless networking these days; Graphics are far better than they were about a year ago, since ATI released documentation. It doesn't take any effort to get Linux working on hardware that it claims to support. In fact, I find it far easier to get Linux working on supported hardware than Windows; the install is far smoother, there are no drivers to hunt down after the install, and the software that I care about is 90% preinstalled. the last 10% is just a click in a nice GUI away, and I don't have to search around the internet for a reliable source to download from.
    - Prrometheus 18y ago

pavelludiq 18y ago

There are probably many women in computing, just not that much famous ones, i guess.

Jem 18y ago

I love this part: "Don't treat women stereotypically" ...and yet further up the article: "since they have low self-confidence to begin with". Total crap. I can't believe this was written by a woman.

grahamg 18y ago

this is useless.