Women in IT, Mozilla, 190/5300 Repair, CRTs, and OS Downgrades

• Women in IT
• Easy Downgrade from 9.2
• 190/5300 repair extension expired?
• I Love CRTs
• Update on using Mozilla and Netscape with upgraded NuBus Power Macs
• Mozilla 1.1a cuts out 8.5,8.6

Women in IT

From Teri Pittman

Dear Charles,

I disagree [with Female Dissatisfaction in the IT Industry: Not Just A Glass Ceiling]. I am a Help Desk supervisor about to be RIF'd from the job I've had for the last 7 years. Every woman at this company who wanted to take her Novell CNE training had to wait until the guys had theirs. And yes, I got that CNE but was given no opportunity to even try to use it. Company spent money to send me to Oracle & Sybase training. Again, I was not allowed to use even a tiny bit of this. It was never a question of me trying to use my training and showing that I wasn't capable. I wasn't even given the chance. I spent two years working in a Unix only environment. When that project ended, I was kicked back over to the Help Desk. Two guys with zero Unix experience took over what I was doing and were made Unix admins.

Now you may think that all this is just a problem at the company I work for. Let me point out something you missed in your car analogy. If the guys ignore the woman who wants to talk shop, in fact walk past a woman mechanic to talk to some guy who knows nothing about cars, that is not some problem on the woman's part. It's a problem about how the men deal with women and how companies deal with women in technical positions. We have a senior Unix admin here (let's call her the Dragon Lady) who is incredibly bright and knowledgeable. She can talk hardware till the cows come home and knows those servers inside and out. She is still treated like a second class citizen and is far more likely to be out the door in the next RIF. Why? Because she is a woman and they'll keep the guys. They think it is okay to think this way.

I knew, at the time I went back to school and had a choice between business and computers, that I would have a hard time of it in the computer world. I don't look like a geek. I wanted to try it anyway, because that's what I love working on. I've put seven years into it and may stay in the industry. I've given up on the idea of another IT position. I'm tired of beating my head against that wall. It's true that many women have no desire to work with computers, because they aren't interested in them. I'm hear to tell you - the industry is not kind to women who are interested and do have the skills. It's 1960 all over again, as far as attitude.

Hi Teri,

I never said that women were intrinsically less capable IT workers (or automotive gearheads - look at Jean Jennings over at Automobile Magazine; an automotive engineer and one of the finest carmag journalists in the business). Just that as a generalization, fewer women are inclined to pursue those fields, and I don't think it can all be chalked up to cultural prejudice or conditioning.

As for your particular situation, I think it's outrageous without reservation. Hearing about it makes me mad. That sort of bigotry and boneheaded chauvinism is definitely not where I'm coming from.

I'm sure you're disgusted and demoralized right now, but I would encourage you to rest a bit, regroup, and then get back in there and fight the good fight. Change the world, one person at a time if necessary, but don't give up.

Charles

PS: Inspirational bon mot from one of my heroes:

"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense." - Winston Churchill

Easy Downgrade from 9.2

From Jimmy James Champlin

Charles,

I've been using this method for a while now with no problems yet. You can downgrade your system easily without having to initialize the HD simply by "deactivating" the 9.2 System Folder.

Create a folder inside the System Folder called "Finder Grave" or something similar. Any name will do. Then move the Finder into it. The System Folder is no longer valid. Now rename the entire System Folder to something else and install 9.1.

As soon as you're sure everything is functioning, bomb your old 9.2 System Folder.

Hope this helps!
Jim

190/5300 repair extension expired?

From GTO (John)

Hello,

I wonder if you can shed any light on this. I just got off the phone with Apple about a 5300c I recently bought. They told me that the 190/5300 REA expired on June 1, 2002. Any idea what's up? It had always been my understanding that it expired 7 years from the date the 5300 was discontinued.

I can't believe this. I wait until now to finally call Apple and the program's over.

GTO (John)

Hi John,

My understanding is that it is either seven years after the date of manufacture or the original date of sale - can't remember which. Did you give them a serial number? If so, it includes the date of manufacture.

Charles

From John

Re: 190/5300 repair extension expired?

Thanks for the response. The program is supposed to run for 7 years after the 5300 was discontinued. That was late-summer 1996 IIRC. The 5300 wasn't introduced until August of '95, so I should still be in the clear even if Apple changed the requirements.

Since I emailed you, I've talked to a few people who have had similar problems in the past. One fellow was told that the REA expired in February. He eventually almost got legal with Apple before they admitted that it was still valid.

Looks like I have some long calls to make.

GTO(John)

Hi again John,

You're right. I looked it up. Apple's description of the 5300/190 REA program states:

"With this Repair Extension Program, Apple has identified known hardware issues the company will repair - at its cost - for as long as Apple services these products. In the United States, that is seven years after the company stops manufacturing the products. In other countries, the time period is different."

Charles

I Love CRTs

From John Kahre

I think they provide much more vivid brilliance with less ghosting on fast moving images than an LCD. I am kinda freaked out by reading any negative comments about anything that has Trinitron stamped on it. Power Slurping?! The CRT has some high voltage requirements, but they are very current limited. Compare the display to a 75 watt light bulb . . . do you not burn those all day? Oh well.

John Kahre
Mac fan and B-52 flight simulator technician

Hi John,

To each his own. I don't like 'em. The give me eyestrain and headaches, and LCDs - even the small ones in laptops - don't.

In point of fact, I make an effort to keep light bulbs turned out, day or night, when they're not needed. 75 watts is a lot more than the LCD in my PowerBook requires.

Charles

Update on using Mozilla and Netscape with upgraded NuBus Power Macs

From Ken Watanabe

Charles,

Here is an update for readers who have tried (unsuccessfully) to install and run the latest Mozilla or Netscape on a G3-upgraded NuBus Power Mac (6100, 7100, 8100, and related Performas). The problem is in crashing with a "Type 12" error during the installation process. Unfortunately, it's still there, but a helpful note in the bug report log (#125411) at the Mozilla.org site pointed out that with the Macsbug debugger installed, the errors can be "trapped" and bypassed. During installation, the application will drop into the debugger a few times, but typing the "g" command will allow the installation to continue and complete successfully. The browser app also drops into the debugger once during launch and once during quit, but it seems to run fine in between, again by using the "g" command to get passed the error. This is obviously not a very elegant solution (and I don't use it day-to-day), but it will at least allow users with NuBus Power Macs to try the latest Mozilla/Netscape and give feedback. I hope the developers can fix this problem before the final "one point oh" release, because Mozilla and its Netscape-branded brother are very nice, and "tabbed browsing" is a great feature. Perhaps with a bit more feedback from users with NuBus Power Macs, the problem will get pushed up on the priority list.

Note: Macsbug can be downloaded at Apple's developer support Web site. It is Apple's debugger for the classic Mac OS. You should also get the reference PDF file that provides more instructions.

- Ken

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the info.

I love both Mozilla and MacsBug.

Charles

Mozilla 1.1a cuts out 8.5,8.6

From Rob Henerey

It now *says* it requires 9.1+

GRRRRRR, just when it was getting pretty good.

Rob

Hi Rob,

Had to come sooner or later, I guess. :-(

Charles

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