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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: 2014-10-03 05:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-03 05:56 am (UTC)thank you - for your decision and your ban hammering
Date: 2014-10-03 05:59 am (UTC)I'm a (female) technology journalist and yes, I talk to other journalists about what we all cover. It's not corruption; it's peer networking.
Re: What are you talking about?
From:no subject
Date: 2014-10-03 06:35 am (UTC)Re: On Point 2 in Actions Have Consequences
From:Thank you
Date: 2014-10-03 07:02 am (UTC)While I don't share your beliefs (I do think that feminism is hindering womens, not helping them) I greatly appreciate that you are able respect your ideals more than money.
Thank you for your example.
w
Date: 2014-10-03 07:07 am (UTC)other architectures?
Date: 2014-10-03 07:29 am (UTC)Do you feel that Intel might simply be staying away from controversy, no matter what side their advertising money went? If no, do you feel they were taking sides on the issue, and if so why? Does lack of advertising money for what you perceive good conflate to opposition?
Good
Date: 2014-10-03 07:37 am (UTC)Re: Good
From:sudo pacman -Rnscu faggot
Date: 2014-10-03 07:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2014-10-03 08:50 am (UTC)Thank you for your integrity.
Re: Point 2
From:no subject
Date: 2014-10-03 09:54 am (UTC)Woo, so glad this nonsense has seeped into other facets of my life
Date: 2014-10-03 10:18 am (UTC)Intel's point of view
Date: 2014-10-03 10:20 am (UTC)Let's imagine you are Intel and you're in a advertisement partnership with a website in hope of reaching your clients, the gamers. Then this website publishes an article where it attacks the people you are trying to reach, and it does so in a very unprofessional way. The attack gains even larger publicity when other major websites publish practically identical articles within a day. Joint attack increases distrust towards game media and all criticism of cliquishness or collusion is swiftly ignored or silenced by the same media organizations. This creates a Streisand effect which feeds even more to the publicity.
Now if you're Intel you really don't have to think about which side gets more death threats on twitter or who is morally more bankrupt, a cheating girlfriend or her vengeful boyfriend. They don't really have to think if sexy women in video games are a problem or not. Intel makes hardware and they are not giving financial support to loud people on twitter, but they sure can care about how professionally their advertisement partners' employees handle their jobs.
Re: Intel's point of view
From:no subject
Date: 2014-10-03 10:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-03 11:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:Hmm
Date: 2014-10-03 11:59 am (UTC)Re: Hmm
From: (Anonymous) - Date: 2014-10-04 02:17 pm (UTC) - Expandno subject
Date: 2014-10-03 12:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2014-10-03 12:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From: