software of men

A great post from Karen Schneider:

Too much OSS is, in a way, Software of Men: grim, grey, and--for those who have ever attempted to ask a newbie question on an OSS list--pugilistic and thoroughly patriarchal. You either are part of the in-group or you are a "fugee" (Children of Men jargon for 'refugee'--a major subtext of the movie is the treatment of immigrants). If you are a fugee, God help you; you are no equal to the developers.

Now, before you think this is going to drift into "Command line execution is from Mars, GUIs are from Venus," I know plenty of women who think in code--women for whom a command line is bliss--women who are geek from the git-go. (I keep referring to the "guys" in my department, even though several of us, including me, are female.) I am also not going to describe us as the kinder, gentler sex--not after working in libraries for fifteen years.

But I will ask this of you, ye who are of the geekish inclination. Go see Children of Men, and then think about software development. Who do you want building your software? What kind of world do they come from?

I hadn't planned to see Children of Men (I tend to like my movies on the lighter side), but I think now I may have to.