Gates to demonstrate new search software

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Stuck in Visual Basic

It wasn't so long ago that you knew that an IT professional could code in COBOL because of the school he or she got his or her degree from. I use to recommend folks for COBOL projects owing to that knowledge. However, at that time Microsoft was hiring mostly virgins and knowledge of COBOL was likely viewed as knowledge that would inhibit Microsoft management in taking the company where they wanted it to go. Hence those who wanted work would drop any reference to COBOL from their resumes and emphasize only the work they may have done in the less mature techology Microsoft was selling. (Visual Basic)

The other theory is that Microsoft management wanted to keep health care costs down and hence resumes were screened to keep the population of workers young and unmarried (married folks have expensive children) and free from races with known health concerns.

Known COBOL savy applicants might be assumed to be a decade older than the young unmaried white males Microsoft's insurance carrier prefered. Blue Cross Blue Shield actually trained managers this way at the time. Health care costs are real costs to a business often the next largest cost from salary. Today Microsoft is Blue Cross's largest customer but as far as I know it still needs COBOL coders. And as far as I know, the health records of all Microsoft workers are shared with Microsoft management - this owing to wavers every subscriber signs.

The issue I am bringing up is that the system described by Gates has discrimination potential that has long been recognized in the health care and insurance industries as undesirable in polite society. It is both agest and racist. IT professionals assisting in such projects should consider the ethics implications. It is not where we want to go today.


Frank L. Mighetto CDP
http://www.iccp.org/

Posted by: mighetto   Posted on: 05/18/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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