"If people like her keep painting a negative picture for women then why does she think women would be attracted to those roles?"

Quite. I have noticed that over the years, I've noticed the percentage of women in IT gradually decreasing. I can't say there's a direct link between the dwindling numbers and this sort of publicity, but it's unlikely to help; personally, I think IT has become such a toxic place to work that I'm hesitant to recommend it to anyone (don't get me wrong, I love my job, but the working conditions, not so much.)

Re: Teco

I'm surprised it's taken Teco this long to get a mention given its former infamy! I seem to recall it was noteworthy in that a Teco editing command was apparently indistinguishable from line noise, though I've never personally had the pleasure.

Re: Physical security of server room ?

> "Where I work, I manage several servers (as part of my job). I can get physical access to the servers, but only if I ask very nicely, and only if accompanied by a senior system admin."

That sounds familiar. Even though a major part of my job was providing second-line support to our ops staff, gaining access was often not easy:

Ops: "We need your help with one of the minis."

Me: "I'll need access to it, then."

Ops: "You can't come in."

Me: "Then I can't assist you."

Ops: "But we need your help with one of the minis."

etc.

Don't get me wrong, they were actually a really good bunch, but sometimes things could be a bit frustrating. The flip side is that we had excellent systems availability and nobody pouring cleaning fluid into the computers.

Re: Fond memories

I also remember wandering round unsupervised in Princes Street in those days, at about the same age, even though I lived near to Newcastle! The slew of home computer departments with interestingly incompatible stuff that had sprung up everywhere made it an exciting time to live.

"It seems to be missing the commodore +4 and it's baby brother the commodore 16"

Didn't they appear a bit later? I remember reading a magazine review of a couple of new Commodore models in the autumn of 1984, which I assume is when they were launched (in the UK, at least); if I recall (my memory is hazy) the review was of those two machines. I don't think they ever sold in large numbers though, the home computer market seemed to be increasingly dominated by the usual suspects like the Spectrum and C64 by that point.

Re: Its is amazing

It's also amazing how few seem to credit the original transcriber. Though in cases such as these, that's probably a blessing.

Re: Comics aren't for kids as most kids can't be arsed to look past their X-box these days.

> "currently 35-45 years old I would guess"

44 here: my cousins got me hooked with their cast-off issue 4 back in the day. I remember spending years trying to track down issue 1: I eventually found it in some bonfire kindling! I still have it somewhere though it's in poor condition given the somewhat questionable paper quality of early issues. Well, that and being rolled up and stuffed into a bonfire.

Re: Four words

I remember that one with a lot of fondness. I think I've finally given up hope that I might see the rest of the story, but what they did complete was legendary.

> "At least some people out there are as old as me :-("

You say that as if it was a bad thing! We grew up in an exciting time. :)

> "Not just MOS 6502... I would also include Zilog Z80 for the home computer for the ZX81, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC."

I'd also like to throw in my tuppence as a former 6809 owner! Er ... quietly slinks away ...

Re: @TeeCee Back to the 70's?

"If they want to reduce energy usage across the country, they need to look more at what causes us to use so much."

They could do something about unnecessary commuting for a start: not much point trying to tax people off the roads when it's not their choice and they don't want to be there anyway; seems weird that it's almost 20 years since I did a highly successful pilot of a working from home programme but since then nobody is interested.

Seems the current lot are more interested in giving the sick and disabled a good kicking instead of doing anything useful though (not that the previous lot were any better.)

Re: Slightly OT

Windows NT was initially version 3.51; its revision and Windows 2000 were version 4; XP was version 5 etc.

I guess it depends on your local office. I've had DPD repeatedly claim to have tried to deliver stuff when they've done no such thing; when they do turn up their line of questioning ("what is your relationship to the recipient?") gets a little intrusive. The local Yodel chaps tend to be very reliable, though.

Re: Do you find...

"Do you find..."

Yes, usually by standing on something cold and squishy with bare feet. Seldom the highlight of my day.

Re: I must of missed

"Where I am I would say that the number of women working in technical roles in IT has dramatically reduced in the last twenty years."

I've noticed the same thing: I think we need to look at what's happened over the past 20 years to cause this. I think part of the problem are the "women in IT" programmes, which I personally think succeed in making it look a much more forbidding place than it really is.

Re: Name claiming, but... Here comes da' spam!

I've sent a few test messages to my new @outlook.com address, every one of which was incorrectly flagged as spam. Not a promising start...

Re: Was the UK that far ahead of US?

I remember my days at school in 1983/84, pretty much all the kids had either a computer or games console (or both), seems it was very much a minority who didn't. But the situation with CD players was rather different: as Mr Hill points out, it seems that was a myth. They made serious inroads over the next few years, but it was a long while before they became as ubiquitous.

Re: Hector?

I prefer to think of the eponymous hero of Hector's House.

Re: India??

"India? I don't think I've *ever* had a spam from India"

I get an endless stream of spam attempts from India, seemingly all of them to addresses that have never existed: it appears someone out there is still buying those lists of "double opt-in and verified" addresses, astonishingly. It's pretty much consistently at the top of the list of countries trying to spam me, but very few of them if any are actually successful.

Re: @Aaron Em: Cheaply-Made Keyboards

You can still get "kinda" Model Ms from Unicomp's outlet. Perhaps not quite as sturdy as the originals, but they're still really very good, and they have the extra keys. And a non-beige colour scheme!

Re: Sad

There does seem to be something distastefully unethical about making cost savings by outsourcing labour to countries where the sort of working conditions they endure were rightly outlawed in the West long ago.

Re: And what about Bing?

"Guess we'll need to dig up Alta Vista. DEC was headed by Ken Olson, a devout Christian."

Christian or not, I don't recall anything about Ken being a homophobe: he was just an all-round good guy, really.

Re: Single sourced

"What exactly is the point?"

The illusion of security: banks seem to be very keen on it. Cheaper than actual security, I suppose.

Re: Where does the fine go?

Where does the fine get paid from, for that matter? If it comes out of the management budget, fair enough, but you know it'll be patient services that end up having to go without.

Re: Am I the only one..

"...or, for somewhat more money - Sennheiser HD-25 - apparently indestructible, comfortable, fabulous sound, and most definitely head-fi approved...."

They are pretty hard to destroy. Mine are HD25SPs that I paid £90 for back in 1998 and they're still going strong; by that time I'd managed to get through numerous pairs of headphones which typically lasted all of six months apiece, whereas these just keep on going and sound fantastic. I have managed to damage the cable a couple of times over the years thanks to rank carelessness, but they're easily and cheaply replaced. Not bad considering they've seen extended daily use over that time.

Re: Sexist joke alert

"When I used to often work out in the Bay area 20 years back, I would have thought that the average proportion of female frontline developers was slightly less than 50% (women don't quite make up 50% of the working population, some choose not too) but wasn't way under. But more recent trips there have shown a big shift away from women in technical positions."

Interesting, I've noticed exactly the same thing; the male/female split was almost 50:50 when I started working in IT in the late '80s but in each successive job I saw fewer and fewer women working there. Some employers seemed to be very keen to fast-track women into management in a desperate bid to be seen to be doing the right thing, but I'd hazard a guess that a big part of the problem are the various "women in IT" programmes which seem to actually have the opposite effect to what was intended. I can't speak for anyone else but I personally find them rather patronising and they seem to have a habit of highlighting problems where previously there were none, for the most part. It doesn't make a compelling argument for the next generation to get into IT when people just want to get on with it.

Re: Metroll

Convince the games developers to use OpenGL instead of DirectX and I and plenty of others like me will happily migrate away from Windows, but until that happens...

Re: Gmail?

"Don't government ministers at least get security advice from the security services?"

Most likely, and they probably take that advice just as seriously as that offered by their other advisers.

Re: RTFM

"And FWIW IBM says density was 100 bits per linear inch http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/701/701_1415bx26.html. A 1200 foot tape therefore had 1,440,000 bits, or about 175k by my reckoning."

That's probably per track, I imagine: there were seven of them...

Re: Teleworking

@ravenwiz,

Lots of people do; but my point was that the option should be made available where it's appropriate. I often like working in an office, it's the typically two to four hours a day I can spend commuting that I'm not quite so keen on...

"He's been dressing as a woman since the 80's. [...]"

*She* has. Sorry to nitpick, it's a subject that's rather close to my heart.

Re: Hmmm.

Nicely done, sir! :D

Re: (x-posting) I wrote to my MP - Got a reply too..

"MP's dont have anything to worry about, they buy their p0rn using tax payer money in posh hotels then claim it as an entertainment expense."

And when they're caught, blame it on their spouse.

Re: Vaz

One thing The Vaz does excel at is single-handedly demonstrating what is wrong with politics in the UK. I'm absolutely sick and tired of seeing his name in print, something that seems to be his main purpose in life.

Re: quite confused ... till I read the comments...

@Kristian,

Yeah, she was always the same person, so it's quite reasonable to refer to her as Sophie, whatever time in her life she did something.

Part of me feels I'm being slightly disrespectful by focussing on her personal life, though I do find her to be very inspirational in that regard too.

Quite a few years back now, though evidently not that far back... Don't know the exact date, sorry.

Re: or...

"For the really heinous crimes, made to debate UK military spending with Lewis Page..."

I say! Steady on, old chap, I think there are limits beyond which a civilised society should not step.