# I'm a girl. Yes, I use a computer.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-girl-yes-i-use-a-computer/264368
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [September 14, 2004, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-girl-yes-i-use-a-computer/264368 "2004-09-14T04:27:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-girl-yes-i-use-a-computer/264368/41 "2004-09-14T18:23:05Z")
C64 girls are dreamy…
Can I Peek while you Poke? 😛
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2004, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-girl-yes-i-use-a-computer/264368/42 "2004-09-14T18:41:47Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#):
>
> Mr. Neville did this in his old apartment. When I got him a new graphics card for his birthday one year, we opened up his computer to put it in, and it looked like it had a thick, furry, gray beard. I was sneezing for days afterward… :o (closest I can get to a sneezing smiley…)
:o
:o :o
:o :o :o
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: !!!
Glad I could help you out with the technical fine points, little lady.
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-girl-yes-i-use-a-computer/264368/43 "2004-09-14T18:44:54Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#):
>
> :o
> :o :o
> :o :o :o
> :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: !!!
>
> Glad I could help you out with the technical fine points, little lady.
Turn the smilies off, and it looks like you’re making monkey noises.
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### Author:  [@High\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/High_Cheese)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-girl-yes-i-use-a-computer/264368/44 "2004-09-14T22:05:09Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#):
>
> We live in what’s called a “New age”, right? So what the hell _is_ it with so many people thinking that females are incapable of using a computer? I run into these kinds of people mostly at electronics supply stores - Radio Schlock and Future Slop are the worst. Radio Schlock especially. Now I know this doesn’t apply to all R.S. workers, but every salesperson I’ve run into there has been male, and a big, knobby, stinky dick. I dread when I have to ask a question because it often leads to being belittled. Most recent incident, last week. My 7 year-old discman finally fritzed out for good, so I went there and picked out a new one that could read MP3/CD. As soon as I brought my choice up to the counter, the salesman looks at it, and then at me, and says as if I’m a kid, “This can read MP3’s as well as CD’s. Do you know what they mean when they say that?” I gave him a dark look and he shut up for the rest of our interaction. I can guarantee that if I had been a man, he wouldn’t have talked down to me like that. Other reactions to my queries/purchases have ranged from disbelief to amusement. Aww, look, the little girl is getting a print cartridge. She even knows which one she needs, how cute!
>
> My dad started flooding me with those old kid’s books on introductions to BASIC when I was barely out of Kindergarten, starting me on an inevitable descent into geekdom. I mean, I have an uncontrollable affinity for C64 programs like Paperclip and GEOS. Fuckin’ GEOS! I’m a geekette, dammit! And I want them to seeeee!
10 LET A=YOU
20 LET B=RADIOSHACK
30 A GOTO B
40 LET C=RADIOSHACK\NERD\HELPYOUBOT
50 INPUT\A OUTPUT\C
60 INPUT\A=PURCHASE
70 OUTPUT\C=PRINT “OK, BLONDIE. NEED SOME LIPSTICK WITH THAT?”
80 OUTPUT\A=PRINT “BUT I’M SMART”
90 OUTPUT\C=PRINT “WHATEVER DOLL”
100 SDMB
110 GOTO 100
120 RUN
Look, if you’re smart, and I believe you are, people will know; you’ll have no need to show and/or tell them. If they don’t know and/or care, whoop-de-do. The most important person—you—knows; and that is all that is important.
END
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### Author:  [@alimarx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alimarx)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2004, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-girl-yes-i-use-a-computer/264368/45 "2004-09-14T23:06:05Z")
> [@zev\_steinhardt](#):
>
> I later found out that she has a PhD in Computers and is a professor teaching computers at the local college. :o
Your wife or the neighbor?
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### Author:  [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-girl-yes-i-use-a-computer/264368/46 "2004-09-14T23:29:04Z")
> [@alimarx](#):
>
> Your wife or the neighbor?
The neighbor. The one whom I asked my wife to keep an eye on.
Zev Steinhardt
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2004, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-girl-yes-i-use-a-computer/264368/47 "2004-09-14T23:43:53Z")
> [@zev\_steinhardt](#):
>
> I later found out that she has a PhD in Computers and is a professor teaching computers at the local college. :o
A PhD in computer science\* is no guarantee of ability to use a machine.
\*Not sure what else it would be in.
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### Author:  [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2004, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-girl-yes-i-use-a-computer/264368/48 "2004-09-15T02:03:31Z")
I actually don’t have this problem. Mainly it’s because my fiancee does most of the computer shopping for our house. But, the computer guy at work only had to talk to me once to know not to be condescending with me. I’m not a computer genius. I don’t know squat about programming or anything else like that. But, I know how to use what’s on my computer and if it freezes, I can take care of it. There are 4 men at work who call me at least once a day for computer help because I fix the problem without treating them like they’re idiots. Most of the women I work with are not afraid of computers and some even know a bit. So, none of us really have this problem.
I do have this problem with my actual job. People find it hard to believe that a young female might actually know something about boilers and how they work.
What’s funny is that my fiancee has this problem all the time. He’s an engineer. Now, granted, he’s a TV engineer. But, he has vast computer knowledge. He also knows just about everything about TV’s, phones, and any other kind of communications device. Every time he goes to any technology type store, the sales people automatically assume he doesn’t know anything. The sad thing is that these people don’t know crap about what they’re selling. Some of them know less than me. The company I work for has a policy that if you don’t know, don’t bullshit. Find someone who knows. Computer stores don’t seem to agree with this policy. So many of them have lost our business because the sales clerks don’t know crap.
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### Author:  [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2004, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-girl-yes-i-use-a-computer/264368/49 "2004-09-15T04:13:25Z")
> [@High Cheese](#):
>
> 10 LET A=YOU
> 20 LET B=RADIOSHACK
> 30 A GOTO B
> 40 LET C=RADIOSHACK\NERD\HELPYOUBOT
> 50 INPUT\A OUTPUT\C
> 60 INPUT\A=PURCHASE
> 70 OUTPUT\C=PRINT “OK, BLONDIE. NEED SOME LIPSTICK WITH THAT?”
> 80 OUTPUT\A=PRINT “BUT I’M SMART”
> 90 OUTPUT\C=PRINT “WHATEVER DOLL”
> 100 SDMB
> 110 GOTO 100
> 120 RUN
😃😃😃
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### Author:  [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2004, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-girl-yes-i-use-a-computer/264368/50 "2004-09-15T04:14:54Z")
Originally Posted by Ethilrist
:o
:o :o
:o :o :o
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: !!!
Glad I could help you out with the technical fine points, little lady.
> [@ultrafilter](#):
>
> Turn the smilies off, and it looks like you’re making monkey noises.
I had a hearty laugh at that!!!
😃
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### Author:  [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2004, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-girl-yes-i-use-a-computer/264368/51 "2004-09-15T04:40:16Z")
My impression of Radio Schlock was “You’ve got questions, we got answers.” [sub]Answer usually is[/sub] “We don’t have that…”
My company had purchased a bunch (about 22) Dell computers and the hard drives started to fail - I had 8 hard drive failures within three months. As the computers were still under warranty, I had to call Dell Tech Support to get the drives replaced. Most of the time, I would get some schlub (a guy) on the phone who was following a script for diagnosis of the problem, and wouldn’t deviate from that script regardless of the clear (to me) indications that the hard drive really did go belly up. It took hours to go through the company’s script for each drive and get them to send new drives.
With the last two drives, I called Tech Support and got a girl - within three or four sentences of conversation, she established that she really understood the problem, she understood that I really understood the ins and outs of the box, and I felt that she wasn’t going to waste my time. She stepped me through the required diagnosis script, taking shortcuts where possible, and got through the script in short order - even shorter for the second box.
She even stepped me through a routine that nuked the sensitive data on the bad drives (didn’t even know that was possible) - something the other drones didn’t offer.
I’ve seen boy idiots and I’ve seen girl idiots. This girl was a brilliant.
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### Author:  [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-girl-yes-i-use-a-computer/264368/52 "2004-09-15T04:53:47Z")
Whoa, other GEOS fans! I’m among my own kind!
The Blink household got its first modem in 1983, and it was primarily my mother ( **infamousmom** ) who used it – she was one of the very few women online in those days, using services like PlayNET, Viewtron (which she taught me to use as a young Blink), Q-Link, and Compuserve back in its infancy, when chat rooms were still called CB Simulators.
I grew up with Commodore GEOS, but I recall well the PC version of GEOS – usually referred to as GeoWorks Ensemble. I still have some files in Geos-type format lying around. **Infmom** had a free AOL account for quite some time because she betatested the GeoWorks-based AOL software (if I recall arightly, the first non-Mac AOL software).
When I wrote a research paper on Internet forms of English for a sociolinguistics class, my mother was on the Works Cited page. I still find that utterly amusing.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2004, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-girl-yes-i-use-a-computer/264368/53 "2004-09-15T13:25:58Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#):
>
> Turn the smilies off, and it looks like you’re making monkey noises.
Glad you noticed. Nobody said anything about my monkey haiku in another thread.
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-girl-yes-i-use-a-computer/264368/54 "2004-09-15T15:26:53Z")
> [@catsix](#):
>
> Although I have had far less problems with the NT based operating systems, and would like to see Microsoft put out a Unix based OS.
They did. It was called Xenix, and it didn’t exactly take the world by storm. As I recall, one version of Xenix ran on the 8088, and I don’t know if the OS survived into the 32-bit era.
I imagine running \*nix on a 16-bit desktop system was a rather different experience than running it on a mini or workstation from the same era, or a modern 32-bit desktop machine. I don’t exactly see the benefit, especially since you really couldn’t multiprocess in any real way on such limited hardware. It must have been roughly like DOS, only with a different filesystem and command-line syntax.
For my money, saying a machine with no memory protection is running ‘Unix’ is laughable. (Yes, I do think the ancestral PDPs had some form of memory protection. They ran different timesharing and multiprocessing OSes before Unix.)
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### Author:  [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2004, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-girl-yes-i-use-a-computer/264368/55 "2004-09-16T12:03:20Z")
A while back my husband and I were running linux on most of our home computers. Mind you, I’m bright enough, but he was the admin, because I just wasn’t that interested in keeping our network running, and he was.
However, I had a colleague at work who could not believe that I was using linux _at all_, even as a user not an admin. Because “Linux is hard”. Uh, it’s just another operating system. That was a fun conversation.
Mostly the women in my department are as tech savvy as the men, which is to say it ranges from “I don’t know how they manage to turn their computer on in the morning” to the small circle of us who are sad enough to sit around and b.s. about our gaming rigs (I’m out of this competition now, don’t have time to game, don’t have the money for the bleeding edge graphics cards etcetera any more anyway.) But then my department is skewed toward statistical geekiness rather than computer geekiness, and statisticians are a breed of their own.
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