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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
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no subject
Date: 2014-10-02 10:18 pm (UTC)I also wonder if whoever made the decision about pulling the ads realizes they've been played.... Seems likely by now.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
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From:Re: Not getting it
From:This Author is Wack
Date: 2014-10-02 10:34 pm (UTC)Re: This Author is Wack
From:no subject
Date: 2014-10-02 10:38 pm (UTC)Kill me please. Anything that puts less ads on the net is a good thing.
Also make your site work without javascript what is wrong with you
(no subject)
From:Thank you.
Date: 2014-10-02 10:48 pm (UTC)Before I hide from all this new fallout, ironically enough, by burying myself in Super Smash Bros. 3DS for the next week; thanks for standing up for this issue. It may not make Intel blink, but it greatly reaffirms my hope that people sincerely care about the sexism problem in tech.
As a man with laptops which have Intel GPUs, thanks.
How dare you
Date: 2014-10-02 10:49 pm (UTC)I was _going_ to leave the comment "Fart fart fart", but now I can't do so because I'd be associated with a bunch of misogynist trolls.
Even worse, it's apparent you'd actually screen my comment anyway. What kind of person would screen "Fart fart fart"? I ask you.
Re: How dare you
From:Well good riddance!
Date: 2014-10-02 10:52 pm (UTC)Re: Well good riddance!
From: (Anonymous) - Date: 2014-10-03 12:49 am (UTC) - ExpandRe: Well good riddance!
From: (Anonymous) - Date: 2014-10-03 04:05 am (UTC) - ExpandRe: Well good riddance!
From:The actual GamaSutra article that caused the whole kerfuffle
Date: 2014-10-02 10:54 pm (UTC)this is the article that caused the whole "boycott Gamasutra" thang:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/224400/Gamers_dont_have_to_be_your_audience_Gamers_are_over.php
A quote from the article:
"These obtuse shitslingers, these wailing hyper-consumers, these childish internet-arguers -- they are not my audience."
Re: The actual GamaSutra article that caused the whole kerfuffle
From: (Anonymous) - Date: 2014-10-03 01:07 am (UTC) - Expandno subject
Date: 2014-10-02 11:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:Re: *sigh* nerds
From:Re: *sigh* nerds
From:Re: Giant corporations
From:Great, now we've lost another good Linux developer.
Date: 2014-10-02 11:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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From:Re: I don't understand...
From:(no subject)
From:Fart Fart Fart Fart
Date: 2014-10-02 11:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-02 11:45 pm (UTC)The thing that boggles me most about the GG "campaigners" is that even if the alleged ""corruption"" wasn't mostly fictional, it would still be completely trivial. Meanwhile there's a story on Ars about the founder of EA evading $26 million in tax and I bet he's not getting many death threats.
(no subject)
From:#swag
Date: 2014-10-02 11:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-02 11:51 pm (UTC)