Women in IT
From Lorraine
Dear Mr. Moore,
I am a woman who has been working in IT for twenty years, and agree
with Teri Pittman's point of view and
experiences. There is definitely discrimination against females in
IT departments, unless the department head is also a female (which
doesn't happen too often). The discrimination is both in terms of
advancement and training opportunities, and in terms of respect for her
knowledge and abilities. Without that respect, her ideas for innovation
or reform are not taken seriously, and she will not be asked to
participate in projects such as a workstation upgrade strategy or
network migration - not unless there is no male available (not even one
less qualified). In my twenty years I have worked for two female
department heads, and the opportunities available to me in those two
departments have been like night and day compared to the other
firms.
Within IT, it is true that many female workers tend to choose
software development and customer service-oriented careers rather than
pursue such specialties as hardware engineer and technician, and
systems operations. My opinion as to the reason for this is that in the
earlier days of Data Processing, before the advent of the microcomputer
about twenty years ago, hardware design, installation, and repair
involved a lot of heavy manual labor. Computer systems took up long
walls in raised-floor computer rooms. Components such as disk drives
weighed hundreds of pounds. Equipment used by field service technicians
was heavy and bulky, such as the oscilloscopes used to align the heads
in removable-pack disk drives, and had to be carried around all day.
Many females lacked the physical strength to install and service that
equipment, and those who did have the strength often did not want to do
it anyway. Why? Because the pay was lower, the hours were longer, often
night shifts were involved, and sometimes there was
These days we are no longer struggling to lift and carry a 300 MB
disk pack using only one hand (because the other hand has to open and
close doors and the drive) - a 40 GB hard drive weighs just ounces and
can be held in the palm of a hand. Hours tend to be more regular these
days, with fewer night shifts involved (depending on the industry). But
the pay is still lower than on the software side; and there is still
the perception that it's dirty, manual labor best left for the men.
There is still some heavy lifting (35 pound MPUs, 65 pound monitors)
and some dirty work (getting down on the floor to run cables, hands and
shirt dirty from working inside a dusty MPU). It's not a line of work
for younger women who are planning to have one or more pregnancies.
It's not a good career choice for women who are concerned about their
appearance and would like to have a manicure, and wear nice suits and
dresses with leather pumps to the office. It's not a good job for a
middle-aged woman who is becoming arthritic and has trouble getting up
and down from the floor. So, why am I (still) in this field?
Well, I started out training to be a programmer. But twenty years
ago those jobs were becoming hard to get without a 4-year degree. I had
to start out in operations. As I began to have some opportunities to
program I discovered that, although I could do it, the level of
concentration needed was difficult for me to sustain and that I was
happier doing operations and technical work. So that's where I've
stayed for most of these twenty years. But if I had it to do over
again, I would not go into IT. Nope.
Regards,
Lorraine
PowerBook G3
From: Herb Goodfriend
I recently decided to buy a portable computer because I started
teaching a Mac beginners course at the local adult education program,
and it was useful to bring in my own computer. Dragging in my 38-pound
(or should I say 17.3 kg) iMac was no fun, even with the nifty GrabPac
carrier.
I decided to get a portable that would serve this purpose and also
replace the PowerBook Duo
2300c with dock that I use in my office for writing letters and
accessing the Internet.
Your articles on the G3 series PowerBooks was invaluable to my
search, and I have just ordered a used Lombard with upgraded RAM and hard
disk at a reasonable price.
Regards,
Herb Goodfriend
- Hi Herb,
Pounds are fine with me. I'm an Imperial measure holdout.
;-)
Delighted to hear that my scribblings about PowerBooks have been
helpful. My son's Lombard has been an excellent machine - tough and
dependable.
Charles
WallStreet OS X problem
From Azrul
Hi Charles,
Enjoy reading some of your material. I'm a local Mac columnist in
Malaysia. I used to have a column in a local daily, The Sun. Did you
ever get down to the mystery of not being able to install OS X on
the WallStreet?
I used a WallStreet for ages (the same 233 model) and recently
installed 10.1 on it with no glitches. I sold it off to a fellow
journalist after replacing the 2 GB drive with a 10 GB one. Well,
X does behave in a rather sluggish fashion on the old WallStreet,
though OS 9.1 was quite okay. I actually used 8.6 on it for most of the
life of the machine and only upgraded it a week before selling it
off.
Meanwhile, I've moved back to using 9.2.2 after a month on
OS X. The lack of driver support and some other annoying glitches
made me sick of it. On the WallStreet, OS X didn't support the
PCMCIA slot, so the 3Com modem didn't work (now fixed, I believe, by
the latest 10.1.5 update).
Technically, OS X still gives little support to the PCMCIA slot and
no support to Orinoco cards. There is an open source driver out there
which works okay, but not being able to remove the card means I have
trouble putting my machine into a bag when I have to pack it away in
sleep mode.
Meanwhile, OS X does exhibit many inconsistencies too numerous to
mention. It hasn't reached a maturity like OS 9 has (except in
stability, where OS X is king). OS X has only crashed on me
three times. OS X's greatest forte still remains in it's
networking capability. Meanwhile, I just use the Location Manager in
OS 9 to get similar functionality.
As for OS X, I would give it a miss on the WallStreet, since it's
way too slow for comfort.
Regards.
Azrul Kevin Abdullah
http://www.mir.com.my/azrul
http://web.archive.org/web/20030701065855/http://www.geocities.com/azrulabd/
- Hi Azrul,
No, I never did solve the mystery. However, the only build of OS X
we ever tried to install on the WallStreet was the public beta. A later
build might have worked, but I deduced that X would just be too slow
for satisfactory performance on the WS anyway, and I never pursued it.
The hard drive is too full now for an experimental reattempt.
Still love the old WS, though. It's still my favorite computer I've
ever owned.
Glad to hear that there's Mac Journalism in Malaysia! Keep up the good
work.
Charles
S900 CD-ROM troubles
From Chris Wissmann
C:
I put OS 8.6 on my S900 and now the CD-ROM won't work. Is there a
driver update somewhere or a licensing extension I can install to fix
the problem?
Thanks!
Chris Wissmann,
Editor-in-Chief
NIGHTLIFE
http://www.carbondalerocks.com
- Hi Chris,
Not sure what's going on. I've used every Mac OS version from 8.0
through 9.1 on my S900 and had no problems with the CD-ROM drive,
although it's an Apple 8x, which may not be what you have. I have a
vague recollection of some issue with some CD drives that shipped with
S900s, but can't remember the details.
If it's a 2x or 4x drive, it might be worth a shot picking up an Apple
branded replacement drive for a few bucks on
eBay or somewhere and trying that.
Sorry not to be more help.
Charles
Publisher's note: The Umax SuperMac models didn't ship with Apple
ROM CD-ROM drives, so they generally needed a third-party driver. My
solution was to find 4x or 8x SCSI Sony drives - sometimes for as
little as $29 - and use them instead, since they are fast enough,
inexpensive, and work with Apple's drivers.
PowerBook 1400
From Will Rance
Hi,
Nice article about the PowerBook
1400 you bought for your daughter. Sorry to bother you with a
question but I was curious about where you bought the PowerBook. That
price seems like a really good deal, while the prices I've seen on the
Internet have beer a bit more than what you paid. I'm currently trying
to find an affordable PowerBook, and any information from you would be
great.
Thank you for any help.
Will
- Hi Will,
Actually, we bought it from a coworker of my son's. Part of the reason
for the low-ball price was that it needs a new battery.
This deal on a 1400 might interest you:
PowerBook 1400c/133, 11.3" active matrix, G3 upgradeable, 16 MB RAM, 1
gig HD, floppy drive, new carrying case included, 30 day warranty,
$275. Get an internal CD-ROM drive with the 1400c for $55 extra (total
$330).
For more information, visit:
http://www.wegenermedia.com/indexa.html
Charles
Source for WordPerfect 3.5e?
From Dan Kaseda
Hi,
I saw a "Miscellaneous Ramblings" from 2/18 where you talked about
downloading WordPerfect (since it's not available directly from Corel
anymore). Anyway, your link doesn't work anymore, either
:-(.
Any other places that you know of?
Thanks,
Dan Kaseda
- Hi Dan,
Try here:
http://acmfiles.csusb.edu/corel/wpmac.html
or here:
http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~jdburto/wpmac35e.html
This place:
http://www.deakin.edu.au/software/applications.php
still has it, but you need a student password to initiate the
download.
Charles
Re: 190/5300 repair extension expired?
From John
Just thought you'd like an update on this situation. I called Apple
back armed with everything I found on the Web. It's too much of a story
to write here, but it was a real uphill battle. Everyone I talked to
would clam up until I read Apple's own info, word-for-word. Even then,
they said the program was no longer valid, and they referred to a tech
document that doesn't seem to be available outside the company. Another
person came off sounding like a used car salesman: "It may look
like the REA still exists, but my reading of it says it doesn't." The
last person I spoke with mentioned several dates that I'm not sure are
possible in relation to what we were talking about. They also wouldn't
admit what repairs were covered until I directed them to Apple's own
site.
The (maybe) final word is that the REA is long over, no PowerBook is
covered, but they are mysteriously obligated to repair everything wrong
with my 5300c at their cost.
Whatever crazy things are going on over there, I got my return box 18
hours after hanging up.
I feel that what I went through reflects rather poorly on the
company. I'll most likely be writing a letter in regard to what
happened. The total time I spent on the phone was around 1.5 hours.
GTO(John)
To just go where right is
From Alvin Chan
Thank you for your time. A good strategy here...
What really matters is we shouldn't mind them at all and instead
just focus on who is doing the right thing, it could be Apple now or
Microsoft later. To just concentrate on the best, which is evidently
Apple today. Focus on objective truths rather than opinions and rather
than wasting energy trying to convince those who will no longer hear.
Instead we should all focus on trying to make the best even better. It
is obvious that Apple is the best around, significantly. The best in
price, design, service, spiritually/morally, and strategy wise. Of
course it goes without saying that the best means in general what
Apple's fruits are the best - some, of course, are not, for it's not
perfect because it's man-made.
It is the true leader, the best which gives service first before
profit - this is what ideal an company should be. It is business but
that is second priority, service through giving us the best is first
priority.
I urge all Mac writers to stop trying to convince people and
answering back endlessly and just focus on Apple and it's products for
it will give it's best in general (there will always be some lemons but
the most important are the good fruits). In this way all Mac writers
will be focused on Apple and related products which is what we all
really want for that is what we are all writing about, not to divert to
another person or another company - let them review those and let them
and ourselves review Apple or whoever become the best (could be any
company, Linux, Corel, Microsoft) but I believe there is only one best
in IT for it's spirit is with God, for service first, profit next...
Apple will continue to be the best. I hope this encourages all Mac
writers/evangelist to refocus energy on Apple and it's relations to
companies (who are really people)
To answer someone like Dvorak is good only when ears are open, but
it's as hard for them to convince us as it for us - energy is really
wasted doing so. I have emailed other Mac writers with this. Sadly,
ears are closed, but no matter what we believe objective truth always
prevails. We may say PCs are good, but it will still plagued with more
viruses and harder to use apps (why is it harder to use - because it
has to compromise design as Apple is ahead of it, for legal reasons,
one can't copy the good designs be it GUI or Industrial Design, Apple
and it's partners have made it first). Let's have our peace, if they
don't want to get convinced then they will just suffer- that is the
objective truth. It's like not believing you will fall if you jump 1000
miles but still you will because objective truth doesn't care - so will
the viruses and hard to use GUIs and hardware conflicts, etc.
Take care and God bless,
Alvin
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