Women and Linux
Every now and again whilst trawling my linux feeds, I come across the question ‘Should there be a linux distro for women?’
What a ridiculous question. I can’t imagine why anyone would want or need this, and as a woman myself I find the concept more than a little patronising. Can women not use the regular distros? Of course we can! I’m living proof of that. I’m no linux guru by any means, but I manage perfectly well, just as my male counterparts do. The last thing I would want is to be told by some guy ‘Here you are, here’s a dumbed down version, just for you!’. I imagine they’d want to put in a pink GUI to go along with the stereotypes too.
While we’re at it, why not propose a distro for gays and lesbians, or blacks, or….you get the idea. I mean hey, these ‘minorities’ obviously aren’t capable of using anything the rest of the tech world is.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for helping people where it’s needed, but why must we segregate in this way? I’ve heard the argument that women find linux an intimidating field to get into. I sympathise with that to a point, but generally that’s crap. I’ve had no problems finding help and information. There may be the odd occasion where women feel intimidated, but this isn’t limited to linux and certainly doesn’t justify this idea. Women are under represented in the linux world (as they are generally in technology), but stupid proposals like this honestly don’t help. A support group for women I can understand, this I can’t. I mean you don’t walk into a store and ask for a TV for women do you?
Seriously, get a grip people!
Now I’m off to play with my new Ubuntu installation under VMware Fusion (which incidentally didn’t have to be coloured pink for me to use).
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh and there is actually a Linux for gays… Believe it or not. I give you - Gaybuntu: http://gaybuntu.com/ (Well ok so it’s just a community, but still, I found it amusing)
On a more serious note, I agree with you. If you want to reach out to a particular demographic, patronising them is probably not the best way to go about it. Besides, Gnome is already dumbed down enough, any more and it will be completely useless.
I prefer Kubuntu ;)
There is I believe a version of Ubuntu for Christians, an actual distro not just a community. I was tempted to say something about that but thought better of it for fear of having hoards of raving christians on my back at what would probably have been highly sarcastic remarks. ;)
Oh and nice sideways snipe at Gnome there! :D Funnily enough I’ve heard the opposite is true. I love the Gnome/KDE debate, it’s almost as good as the linux/windows/mac one.
But if there’s no integrated recipie-app on the desktop, what will you use your computer for anyway?
Pfft. Women.
My life is in ruins.
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