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mjg59Edit: About two months after this was written, Intel committed to a large scale diversity initiative. Actions speak louder than words, and this was an effective repudiation of the behaviour described below. I've happily worked on Intel-related issues since then.
A lot of the kernel work I've ended up doing has involved dealing with bugs on Intel-based systems - figuring out interactions between their hardware and firmware, reverse engineering features that they refuse to document, improving their power management support, handling platform integration stuff for their GPUs and so on. Some of this I've been paid for, but a bunch has been unpaid work in my spare time[1].
Recently, as part of the anti-women #GamerGate campaign[2], a set of awful humans convinced Intel to terminate an advertising campaign because the site hosting the campaign had dared to suggest that the sexism present throughout the gaming industry might be a problem. Despite being awful humans, it is absolutely their right to request that a company choose to spend its money in a different way. And despite it being a dreadful decision, Intel is obviously entitled to spend their money as they wish. But I'm also free to spend my unpaid spare time as I wish, and I no longer wish to spend it doing unpaid work to enable an abhorrently-behaving company to sell more hardware. I won't be working on any Intel-specific bugs. I won't be reverse engineering any Intel-based features[3]. If the backlight on your laptop with an Intel GPU doesn't work, the number of fucks I'll be giving will fail to register on even the most sensitive measuring device.
On the plus side, this is probably going to significantly reduce my gin consumption.
[1] In the spirit of full disclosure: in some cases this has resulted in me being sent laptops in order to figure stuff out, and I was not always asked to return those laptops. My current laptop was purchased by me.
[2] I appreciate that there are some people involved in this campaign who earnestly believe that they are working to improve the state of professional ethics in games media. That is a worthy goal! But you're allying yourself to a cause that disproportionately attacks women while ignoring almost every other conflict of interest in the industry. If this is what you care about, find a new way to do it - and perhaps deal with the rather more obvious cases involving giant corporations, rather than obsessing over indie developers.
For avoidance of doubt, any comments arguing this point will be replaced with the phrase "Fart fart fart".
[3] Except for the purposes of finding entertaining security bugs
A lot of the kernel work I've ended up doing has involved dealing with bugs on Intel-based systems - figuring out interactions between their hardware and firmware, reverse engineering features that they refuse to document, improving their power management support, handling platform integration stuff for their GPUs and so on. Some of this I've been paid for, but a bunch has been unpaid work in my spare time[1].
Recently, as part of the anti-women #GamerGate campaign[2], a set of awful humans convinced Intel to terminate an advertising campaign because the site hosting the campaign had dared to suggest that the sexism present throughout the gaming industry might be a problem. Despite being awful humans, it is absolutely their right to request that a company choose to spend its money in a different way. And despite it being a dreadful decision, Intel is obviously entitled to spend their money as they wish. But I'm also free to spend my unpaid spare time as I wish, and I no longer wish to spend it doing unpaid work to enable an abhorrently-behaving company to sell more hardware. I won't be working on any Intel-specific bugs. I won't be reverse engineering any Intel-based features[3]. If the backlight on your laptop with an Intel GPU doesn't work, the number of fucks I'll be giving will fail to register on even the most sensitive measuring device.
On the plus side, this is probably going to significantly reduce my gin consumption.
[1] In the spirit of full disclosure: in some cases this has resulted in me being sent laptops in order to figure stuff out, and I was not always asked to return those laptops. My current laptop was purchased by me.
[2] I appreciate that there are some people involved in this campaign who earnestly believe that they are working to improve the state of professional ethics in games media. That is a worthy goal! But you're allying yourself to a cause that disproportionately attacks women while ignoring almost every other conflict of interest in the industry. If this is what you care about, find a new way to do it - and perhaps deal with the rather more obvious cases involving giant corporations, rather than obsessing over indie developers.
For avoidance of doubt, any comments arguing this point will be replaced with the phrase "Fart fart fart".
[3] Except for the purposes of finding entertaining security bugs
no subject
Date: 2014-10-02 07:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-02 07:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-02 07:15 pm (UTC)"Fart fart fart"
and as such has been screened for irrelevance.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-02 07:20 pm (UTC)"Fart fart fart"
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No. No it wouldn't.
Date: 2014-10-02 07:30 pm (UTC)No one cares, thanks anyways.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-02 07:31 pm (UTC)"Fart fart fart"
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Re: ayyy lmao
Date: 2014-10-02 07:31 pm (UTC)"Fart fart fart"
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Re: Fat fat fat
Date: 2014-10-02 07:32 pm (UTC)"Fart fart fart"
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Re: You are a total little bitch
Date: 2014-10-02 07:32 pm (UTC)"Fart fart fart"
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Re: Every comment read
Date: 2014-10-02 07:32 pm (UTC)"Fart fart fart"
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no subject
Date: 2014-10-02 07:35 pm (UTC)Re: Jokes on you
Date: 2014-10-02 07:36 pm (UTC)"Fart fart fart"
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Re: You are wrong Matthew
Date: 2014-10-02 07:38 pm (UTC)"Fart fart fart"
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Hello sir.
Date: 2014-10-02 07:38 pm (UTC)Confused now.
Date: 2014-10-02 07:39 pm (UTC)2) I'm confused. Did the publication get political and get dropped, or was it always political and there's a movement to silence them? Cause if it's the first one then isn't the smart thing to avoid being associated with politics entirely?
I helped run Women In Science and Engineering events in university and it was always "how to handle your course load, how to find a job in your field, how to manage your career, here's the reality of building a successful family" not... I dunno, picking on some video game dudes.
This doesn't sound like feminism or women's issues or anything. Is sounds like some bloggers having a spat. Did I miss something?
Just confused.
Re: Hello sir.
Date: 2014-10-02 07:40 pm (UTC)Re: Hello sir.
Date: 2014-10-02 07:42 pm (UTC)Having a doctorate in genetics shows you are far from a fool very far. Please apply the mental tools you posses in abundance to this article and not allow your feelings to cloud objective judgements.
What does Intel do again?
Date: 2014-10-02 07:44 pm (UTC)Private individuals? Okay. But a company has to be political?
It's like saying a lawnmower has to be on the ride side of an election. It shouldn't even be voting. It should just be mowing lawns. That's it's job.
Re: It isn't about one article on gamasutra, it's about ten of them.
Date: 2014-10-02 07:46 pm (UTC)"Fart fart fart fart"
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Re: Deleting dissenting but polite comments is quite passe
Date: 2014-10-02 07:55 pm (UTC)"Fart fart fart fart"
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no subject
Date: 2014-10-02 07:56 pm (UTC)Re: Hello sir.
Date: 2014-10-02 07:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-02 07:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-02 08:00 pm (UTC)Go away. You are not welcome here.
And Matthew: please stay, and please stick with your decision to not work on intel stuff at least until they change their ways.
Re: NordiskAristokrat
Date: 2014-10-02 08:02 pm (UTC)"Fart fart fart fart"
and as such has been screened for irrelevance.