Ada Lovelace Day Post

Ada Lovelace is known as one of the first computer scientists. She developed a language and initial functions for the “analytical engine” Charles Babbage envisioned in the 1800’s. Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Several ladies have posted about famous female Computer Scientists that inspired them either to turn to Computer Science or as they were studying it. I guess I could list the usual Grace Hopper, Mary Lou Jepsen, Anita Borg……. but the truth is I didn’t really know much about any of these people until after I’d already graduated and was already on the path so to speak. So instead I’ll talk about how I strive to be a role model for other women 🙂

As if the “blowjob” ad wasn’t enough

QSOL published an extremely misogynistic ad in Linux Journal that has been dubbed the “blowjob” ad.  It showed a sultry woman with red lipstick and the line “Don’t worry, our servers won’t go down on you either”.  I was curious to find out more about QSOL and I found another inappropriate ad that lists commands in a context of inuendo:

The “commands” Ad

Frankly, when I saw this I felt sick to my stomach.

If this was fan art or a joke, I wouldn’t care quite as much and might think it was funny in a Beavis and Butthead way.  This is a professional organization that advertises in professional publications!!!  Ignoring the female demographic and resorting to using “sex” to sell servers must mean that their servers SUCK.  If they were any good they wouldn’t have to resort to this nonsense.  It’s disgusting.