MS shuts up on number of women engineers

[newbie2]

"It since emerged, thanks to a Register reader, that the MCSE section of Microsoft.com requires .NET passport registration, which requires gender to be given. Does that mean the data might exist? Again, Microsoft remains schtum."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/16/ms_quiet_women/
:^o

[geekchic9]

"Microsoft remains schtum."

I didn't know what schtum meant, so I googled it:

Keep schtum: (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/215700.html)

Meaning

Say nothing.

Origin

A Yiddish expression, from German stumm meaning silent

[KingBahamut]

Bah....they are just shutting the female mind down.......<Speaks in a high Louis Farakahnian tone>

[Charlotte]

Thanks for sharing that interesting link.

Being a female MCSE myself I found a good deal of wisdom in that British study.
But, honestly spoken: I can't find that things are different here on the bright (Linux) side. Nor do I believe that gender issues could be bettered by using the right OS:-)))) anyway.

Regrettably there are few women in Linux forums as well as in more technically oriented Windows forums.

And not to be misunderstood: I do love Linux/Ubuntu and I really couldn't complain about the men I used to work with - no one dared to offend me (a second time:-) ) or women generally. But that is my personal view and shouldn't be misread as "it's all ok for women in IT". That's definitely not the case.

Just my 2 cents.

Regards,
Charlotte

[silkythreads]

Charlotte.....There are many women....I know a few.....who have been working with computers for ages.....I built my first in 1980.....long before japple's and apple's and commodores....I even remember my first home gaming system....one of those 'vision' boxes. In the beginning...all there was was unix.....in the world I live in......I have not noticed too many gender issues wrapped around programming or hardware. I guess I may be to much of a geek or maybe it's just gender was never an issue in the groups where I roam. Oh....and I've been a beta tester for the mighty MS machine off and on over the years.....was there something I missed......when was gender an issue ?

[silkythreads]

Okay....I stand corrected !!!! I read the article. As a UNIX/ZENIX/LINUX user from way back and SUN certed'.......the fact that I know and work with all MS products on a daily basis; would never inspire me to become MS certified at any cost. Not that I advocate UNIX as a better OS but I will not advocate MS. I make a repected 6 figures and do not feel slighted in the least by anything microsoft has to say about anything. I fail to see what impact anything MS might or might not publish has on the world.

[Charlotte]

Hallo, Silkythreads,

thanks for sharing your thoughts.

And: you absolutely are right! What about MS and its policies to reveal the number of a certain group of people. I would better kept my mouth closed instead of fuelling this disgusting discussion MS vs. Linux.

As for the gender issues one last remark:
meanwhile I imagine that it is very hard to understand for (benevolent) men why women are inclined to complain. IMHO it is because men belong to a sort of majority or a group with more power than women _normally_ have.

For demonstration purposes think of you as a homosexual surrounded by strictly religious people in the middle of nowhere. Probably no one would offend you openly but probably you wouldn't feel comfortable among these people. No invitations, no chatting, and so on.

Could you guess what I mean?

Regards,
Charlotte

... now heading for further exploration of her new dvd-ram recorder:-)
BTW: it's a LG GSA 4120-B and it's working like a charme.

[newbie2]

here is also 'some link'
http://www.bofh.org.uk/articles/2005/11/02/women-in-open-source

[newbie2]

Microsoft, Grant Thornton, others sued for sexual harassment, libel
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27874
:rolleyes: