http://arstechnica.com/business/2015...are-about-you/

As you may have seen Linus Torvalds statements.
And while I agree he can be a bit rough at times,
he mostly just does what is needed to get things
done and get them done right.

I couldn't agree more.
People should work on a project or be hired
because they are qualified. People shouldn't
be assigned because they are 'minorities'
if they are less qualified just to balance statistics.

I commend Linus for going up against the
political correct CRAP.

I would definitely agree with exactly that. I would also consider "affirmative action" type policies to be demeaning to the respective parties. For example, I would not want to be hired for something just to match a statistic and thus be held to a lower standard. I am at least as capable as everyone else and all I want is to be judged purely upon my abilities. This isn't about trying to reverse a bias, because that is just another bias, it's about getting rid of the bias altogether.

With all that said, I would recommend Linux Torvards be more politically correct. You might say, but that goes against what you just said. No. I'm saying he should be fair to himself. He isn't always mean, and I think he does care about people too, especially those that do good work on the kernel, those that he cannot do without. I understand that he can be mean sometimes, but it is usually warranted in order to keep the kernel in working order. As for diversity, a better (more politically correct) statement that he could have made (but I don't see that he did) is that he welcomes everyone regardless of gender or race to contribute to the kernel, but that they will all be held to the same standard and be treated equally. That's all true and it's politically correct. It doesn't have to suck up to any ideology, it just has to appeal to people and not alienate them.

I think this is even more important now that he's not much of a Linux developer anymore, but more of a figurehead or BDFL or representative of Linux.

Correct. Adding another bias just creates mode divide
I don't think he really doesn't care about people.
Maybe he was in a bad mood or something
but I doubt believe what he said. I also don't
believe he is always mean (From what I read on the mailing list)

I don't think he tried to exclude them or even implied he was.
He only wants to include/exclude based on qualifications
which is totally reasonable. IMO it isn't necessary to say
it explicitly

I beg to disagree.

http://arstechnica.com/business/2015...are-about-you/

It is clear that the impression people got of him was likely not the one that he wanted. He should always be explicit, in programming and in speech.

I think this is the problem. TRYING to shoehorn people in because of their race or gender WILL create problems.
What we need to do change society as a whole including changing (or eliminating) gender and race stereotypes.

I don't believe in programs that target groups (like the Linux foundation is trying)

Unlike some social organizations, and some political domains (counrties or portions of countries) there is nothing in a Linux community that is determined by a members gender. If you contribute code, the code stands on merit or falls for lack of merit, and no one may know or really care if you are male, female, or six sexed martian. Diversity matters in many zones, but is NOT our business to do anything about it in a community where there is no act of man preventing complete balance.

I may, or may not, understand what Linus intended by his answer. I might, however, have answered in somewhat the same terms. We do the code, we do not do the people.

I think they are seeing a problem where there wasn't one, but you should still state an explicit point of view of equality. I know the Linux foundation is trying to encourage and insert women into tech position because they statistically determined that women are lacking in this field. They fail to realize that few women are at all interested in tech ... in fact they are very bored by it. It's like women being interested in hot rods or monster trucks or hunting, etc. They just aren't. Sure a feminist will say that men are denying women the opportunity pointing to the statistics of oppression. In reality, maybe they just aren't interested in the these things to begin with. This also does not have a direct relationship to the media, it's something deeper than that. Studies have shown for example that boys and girls like to play with different toys regardless of media exposure. They are just interested in different things, fundamentally, probably a remnant of cave man days where each did what they could.

Either way, Linus T. should clearly state that all are welcome and none will be discriminated against based upon gender or race, etc.

Unfortunately, there's a great big gulf between "the oh-so binary world of technology," and "the oh-so human world of human societies."

Technicians like Linus Torvalds are ... by their own free admission ... "concerned about one thing: The Kernel." (Or whatever piece-of-software it is.) But those people live in a world where "that one thing" serves primarily (exclusively ...) the computer, itself. That is the context from which they are speaking. But this context is not universal. Even within the world of corporate computer software development, "The Linux Kernel Project" is a very rarefied bit of atmosphere.

For instance, the part of the computer-software that I inhabit is consulting about the design, execution, and general upkeep of business software systems ... which must be useful to business users and customers who, guess what, might be from many different cultures. My concerns are therefore actually more concerned with human factors than with any purely technical ones. The obstacles that I must effectively address have little to do with the whys-and-wherefores of creating bytecode that runs, and everything to do with who's doing it (and for whom). Whereas Linus' niche is very much the opposite. Same industry.

So, when someone speaks ... loudly and from a bully pulpit ... just keep firmly in mind their point of view and context. It's a great big world out there, full of both computer systems and humans. And, full of very different, yet equally valid, contexts.

That makes no sense.
What does it matter what color, gender or country of origin of the developer? Why does it matter if the developer is even human?

All that should matter from my point of view is that the software serves the person it is intended to serve.