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Microsoft Researchers Offer Predictions For AI, Deep Learning (theverge.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Microsoft polled 17 women working in its research organization about the technology advances they expect to see in 2017, as well as a decade later in 2027. The researchers' predictions touch on natural language processing, machine learning, agricultural software, and virtual reality, among other topics. For virtual reality, Mar Gonzalez Franco, a researcher in Microsoft's Redmond lab, believes body tracking will improve next year, and then over the next decade we'll have "rich multi-sensorial experiences that will be capable of producing hallucinations which blend or alter perceives reality." Haptic devices will simulate touch to further enhance the sensory experience. Meanwhile, Susan Dumais, a scientist and deputy managing director at the Redmond lab, believes deep learning will help improve web search results next year. In 2027, however, the search box will disappear, she says. It'll be replaced by search that's more "ubiquitous, embedded, and contextually sensitive." She says we're already seeing some of this in voice-controlled searches through mobile and smart home devices. We might eventually be able to look things up with either sound, images, or video. Plus, our searches will respond to "current location, content, entities, and activities" without us explicitly mentioning them, she says. Of course, it's worth noting that Microsoft has been losing the search box war to Google, so it isn't surprising that the company thinks search will die. With global warming as a looming threat, Asta Roseway, principal research designer, says by 2027 famers will use AI to maintain healthy crop yields, even with "climate change, drought, and disaster." Low-energy farming solutions, like vertical farming and aquaponics, will also be essential to keeping the food supply high, she says. You can view all 17 predictions here.

102 comments

  1. Microsoft polled 17 women by Nutria · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Flip the gender, and watch the outraged accusations of sexism.

    --
    "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    1. Re:Microsoft polled 17 women by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Flip the gender and it wouldn't be noted.

    2. Re:Microsoft polled 17 women by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or just take the foreign feminine part out!

    3. Re:Microsoft polled 17 women by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Any article on Slashdot that features women in a positive light, or discusses programs or funding for women or girls, is immediately attacked by some of Slashdot's 99 percent male readership as an example of 1) boring non-news that doesn't belong on this site, or 2) blatant sexism.

      That's because it actually is both of those things.

    4. Re: Microsoft polled 17 women by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      sexism in the tech industry never.

    5. Re:Microsoft polled 17 women by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Any article on Slashdot that features women in a positive light ... is immediately attacked

      That is rather difficult to believe. You've checked all of them?

      or discusses programs or funding for women or girls

      Well, unless specifically related to women-specific biology, *that* can easily appear questionable.

      boring non-news that doesn't belong on this site

      It is still "news for nerds" around here, isn't it? *Lots* of things submitted here get criticized for this reason; you may easily be cherry-picking the complaints.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    6. Re:Microsoft polled 17 women by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Flip the gender and it wouldn't be noted.

      That's because it would more likely, therefore less marked. I'd actually expect "outraged accusations of sexism" to follow in the less-likely scenario. Unless the labs are actually staffed with a female majority, of course. In that case, selecting females is more likely and the less marked case.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    7. Re: Microsoft polled 17 women by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The irony of a predictive analytics company not using all available data to predict trends in the analytics industry.

    8. Re:Microsoft polled 17 women by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 2

      Flip the gender, and watch the outraged accusations of sexism.

      I'm watching the outrage now. Why did you think I would need to flip the gender to see it?

    9. Re:Microsoft polled 17 women by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      You don't need to. Someone is always outraged by something, just different people by different things.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  2. Easy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Easy, just watch what Amazon, Google, Apple does and Microsoft will follow.

    1. Re:Easy by infolation · · Score: 2
      Which reminds me of the '10 year predictions' section of O'Reilly's 'Lean UX':

      I once spoke to a company who had commissioned... an extrapolation of what the next 10 years would look like in their industry... You can guess what happened over the succeeding 10 years: absolutely nothing... And in fact, 10 years later, the room no longer looks futuristic. Against all odds, its forecasts turned out to be largely accurate. And yet, the company had failed to commercialize even one of the recommendations in the attendant specification document. So I asked the company what they planned to do next; they told me they were going back to the original designers and asking them to forecast the next 10 years! The company blamed their engineers and managers for their failure to commercialize, not the designers.

    2. Re:Easy by mlts · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What I read from their predictions, especially the gig economy and getting more people into coding is that development work as a whole is commoditized, similar to meat packing, or textile making. It is done at the cheapest country worldwide, by the lowest bidders, for only the time it takes to write that module. This makes anything related to CS paying so little that it isn't worth getting into, with the earnings likely being less than working at a fast food joint.

      This already is happening. Unless there is a specific industry like embedded programming or programming for a contract that the code can't be bought from the cheapest coding house in the world, the work goes offshore, and if someone has to do things in this country, it is contracted to a H-1B firm.

      With this in mind, who in their right mind would want to go into development, unless they are in some niche that is very narrow and requires years of expertise. Even then, there is always the mindset of "it builds with stubs, ship it, fix after release" that is common in the industry.

  3. Re:fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you fail it

  4. Hallucinations, anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "rich multi-sensorial experiences that will be capable of producing hallucinations which blend or alter perceives reality."

    So, magic mushrooms then?

    1. Re:Hallucinations, anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More like dildoes running Windows CE.

    2. Re:Hallucinations, anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This. Soooo this.

  5. Microsoft polled 17 women ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... because that's all they have.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  6. Re: fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, I failed the fp. However, it's true that all logged-in users are faggots.

  7. Sprawl Tech by subk · · Score: 1, Offtopic
    "rich multi-sensorial experiences that will be capable of producing hallucinations which blend or alter perceived reality."

    Sounds like someone has been reading William Gibson novels. This sounds exactly like SimStim or cruising The Matrix with an Ono Sendai.

    --
    Now, if you'll excuse me, I have backups to corrupt.
    1. Re:Sprawl Tech by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Gibson said:

      The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed.

      MS have a track record of always being on the future-deficient side.

  8. What does THAT have to do with anything? by aristotheron · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The fact that they ask only women implies there is some reason to do that,
    Yet we are left to guess at what that reason is.
    The most obvious is that women have a better opinion.
    How is that supportable? Why would they?

    This is the kind of thing people get slapped in the face with every day but never draw any conclusions from because the obvious conclusion is forbidden socially (forbidden by the media/education system (everyone sees it therefore it's morally correct and the truth)).

    Obviously there is a unified agenda across all aspects of society to enforce the idea that women are equal to or better than men in all aspects of skill and knowledge and potential. The fact that this idea has to be enforced implies that it is not supported by truth. It implies the actual results of women professionals do not fit the narrative.

    If not that, what else?

    But for some people truth is what is commonplace. They assume everything around them has been vetted by nature or God or by better people. Just the fact that it exists to them is proof of its veracity.
    These people do not understand the world. They don't understand the invention of falsehood or its applications.

    1. Re:What does THAT have to do with anything? by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The fact that they ask only women implies there is some reason to do that,
      Yet we are left to guess at what that reason is.
      The most obvious is that women have a better opinion.
      How is that supportable? Why would they?

      Why are we left to guess at the reason? It is explicitly discussed in the source article.

      [Women] account for less than 20 percent of computer science graduates in 34 OECD countries
      ...
      One issue sometimes cited for the dearth of women in computing fields is the lack of professional role models who could inspire girls to pursue their STEM dreams. We've attempted to counteract this by asking 17 women within Microsoft's global research organization their views on what's likely to occur in their fields in 2017.

      No, it's not that they think that women's opinions are better than those of men. Nor is it some direct attack against men. Since that idea came from your imagination, there is no need to get hot under the collar about it and attribute bad motives for to the authors of the study.

      So remember the next time you feel that the world is out to get you and that the media hides the "obvious conclusions", that it is all in your head. Your own feelings of persecution have coloured your view of the world.

    2. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why not say "17 people"? If the gender doesn't matter then don't specify it. Same with race, ability, etc.

    3. Re:What does THAT have to do with anything? by Maritz · · Score: 0

      Liberalism is a mental disorder we simply don't treat yet.

      In much the same way as you cannot see your own eyeball, you don't realise that actually the reason why you're a hateful little cunt, is that you're stupid.

      Incapable of nuanced thinking, in other words.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    4. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by Maritz · · Score: 1

      In the context of this, it matters, because it's the point. It's reassuring to know, though, that all of you with these yucky views are apparently universally idiotic.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    5. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 2

      Why not say "17 people"?

      What part of wanting to inspire girls do you not understand? No, you just saw the word "women" and decided to take offense.

    6. Re:What does THAT have to do with anything? by Tyrannicsupremacy · · Score: 0

      I've noticed that every time a liberal accuses someone of feeling a certain way in an argument, it is almost always projection.

      That's how I can make sense of their constant overreaction and lashing out all the time.

      All we have to do is consider that YOU'RE a hateful little cunt and that YOU'RE stupid and suddenly what you're saying makes perfect sense.

      --
      http://i.cubeupload.com/T6cyLu.png
    7. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by Nutria · · Score: 2

      Honestly: how many girls are going to see this, much less be inspired by it?

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    8. Re:What does THAT have to do with anything? by javilon · · Score: 2

      My feeling is that this is a PR stunt. Basically they give the opinions from 17 people at MS that happen to belong to a "minority" group (in IT). They want to show the world that they do have female researchers.

      Problem is, the headline says "MS researchers offer predictions..." where it should read "MS female researchers offer predictions...". Why? because if you just say "researchers" people will assume the selection criteria to be "top researchers".

      Its like you ask to "offer predictions" to those MS researchers born on a day that happens to be a prime number. The result will not be as solid as if you ask the "top researchers", right?

      --


      When his defense asked, "Which computer has Jon Johansen trespassed upon?" the answer was: "His own."
    9. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by tsqr · · Score: 1

      Honestly: how many girls are going to see this, much less be inspired by it?

      On Slashdot? Not many. The original article on The Virge? A few more. Shares of the article on Facebook? Potentially millions.

    10. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by Nutria · · Score: 1

      Girls don't read FB.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    11. Re:What does THAT have to do with anything? by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      My feeling is that this is a PR stunt.

      Well of course there is an element of PR in this. When does any company put out any discussion paper on any subject that doesn't have PR in mind? But that doesn't mean that they didn't have a genuine concern to encourage girls to take up computer science.

      Problem is, the headline says "MS researchers offer predictions..." where it should read "MS female researchers offer predictions...". Why? because if you just say "researchers" people will assume the selection criteria to be "top researchers".

      It would be counter-productive to add the word "female" to the headline. Look at how it has riled up all the insecure man-children just because of that one word "women" in the summary. Imagine how much more of a frenzy of feelings of persecution there would be if they added it to the headline as well. At the end of the day, that part of the story doesn't matter to us here; we really should just discuss the predictions rather than the gender of the people who made them. It doesn't matter to us that they were women, unless you believe that "female researchers" can't also be "top researchers". But if they had only only asked men (as has happened in previous years), would there ever be a distinction made like that? Would anyone have considered making a headline that said that "MS male researchers offer predictions"?

      If the predictions seem wildly inaccurate then by all means say that they are not top researchers, but don't make this claim based on what kind of genitals they have.

    12. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      Honestly: how many girls are going to see this, much less be inspired by it?

      You don't know where Microsoft has published this though. For all we know they have distributed it to classrooms or sent press releases to soft news shows/magazines in the hope of combining a tech story with a human interest angle. But it doesn't matter, as I am sure that this will not be the last time that they do this sort of thing to encourage women and girls to choose tech-based careers. If they keep doing it then something will get seen by their target audience. And if it isn't seen by the girls then it will be seen by the parents of girls in the hope that they can encourage their children into the field (or at least not discourage them because they think that it is just a boys club).

      Microsoft know that if they don't get a higher number of good quality female graduates then they can't address the gender imbalance that does actually get more mainstream reporting. At least when that issue comes up again they can point to these sorts of initiatives to show that they are trying to address the imbalance without resorting to quotas.

    13. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by Nutria · · Score: 0

      then they can't address the gender imbalance

      I'll worry about a male-heavy gender tech imbalance when the NFL starts pushing "brown shoes/gloves/towels for prostate cancer awareness".

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    14. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by tsqr · · Score: 1

      Girls don't read FB.

      Maybe not on your home planet.

    15. Re:What does THAT have to do with anything? by aristotheron · · Score: 1

      So remember the next time you feel that the world is out to get you and that the media hides the "obvious conclusions", that it is all in your head. Your own feelings of persecution have coloured your view of the world.

      I take this as a sign that you are frustrated by your general lack of success in persuading people who are suspicious about "social justice".
      This is one example, and you assert that it should be taken as a sign above all others and that I should change my mind based on this one, assuming that the justification for this sexist article is true.

      Obviously I am not basing my suspicion on just one example or other. "Affirmative action" is nearly ubiquitous.
      Your assumption that anyone who disagrees with you is stupid only sabotages your cause.

      Anyway the given reason is not plausible. It implies that the question was only brought up as an excuse to ask women something. If we want this question answered because it is important, then we should focus on having it answered and not performing some gender equality stunt.

      I'm afraid you have no point and little awareness of the broader picture.

    16. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by Nutria · · Score: 1

      On my home planet, girls use Instagram, while adults use FB.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    17. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      I'll worry about a male-heavy gender tech imbalance when the NFL starts pushing "brown shoes/gloves/towels for prostate cancer awareness".

      It's fortunate then that they declared intention was to inspire girls and not some closed-minded poster on Slashdot. That said, judging by the overwhelming reaction to the stated gender of the surveyed researchers compared to anything that any of them actually predicted, I think perhaps it's not a bad thing to educate the wider community so that they don't have a panic attack when they happen to find a woman in the tech industry.

    18. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by Nutria · · Score: 1

      I've worked in the IT world (first as a programmer, and then as a DBA) for 30 years. Many of my supervisors and team leads have been women, and quite a number of coworkers female.

      Thus, I don't need a snotty left-wing punk to "educate" me about women in IT.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    19. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by tsqr · · Score: 1

      On my home planet, girls use Instagram, while adults use FB.

      Meanwhile back on Earth, 76% of Facebook users are female, and 8% of Facebook users are age 13 - 19.

    20. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by Nutria · · Score: 1

      Neither of your unsourced statistics answer what social media platform that most girls use.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    21. Re:What does THAT have to do with anything? by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      I take this as a sign that you are frustrated by your general lack of success in persuading people who are suspicious about "social justice".

      Once again you have created an entire backstory to rant against that is unsupportable. That comment would make more sense if it wasn't my first post for this story. I will admit though, it is the second time this week that I have had to reply to some opinionated posters who obviously hadn't read even the first couple of paragraphs of the article about which they ranted.

      Do you want to know why I felt qualified to make such a diagnose for someone that I hadn't even met? I recognise the symptoms because I am exactly the same. I too saw that they only asked women and wondered why. In my teenage years, I would have ranted and raged about it too. I would have used my own insecurities to project motives on people. But as I get older, I now know I should actually follow the links to find out the full story before I jump to conclusions. It's the only way that you can have an informed opinion.

      In this case, I found out that they did this for Computer Science Education Week. I found out that in OECD countries less than 1 in 5 computer science graduates are girls. Do either of those things sound implausible to you?

      Why would Microsoft care about this? Apart from the public naming and shaming of companies that have wide gender imbalances (which I'm sure you don't care about), TFA had this reason (among others):

      By 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that there will be 1.4 million computing jobs but just 400,000 computer science students with the skills to apply for those jobs.

      So aside from any pure motives of wanting gender equality, this problem will actually affect their ability to employ staff in the future. Hence, they want to encourage girls to take up STEM careers. You could also say that they want to offset the discouragement some girls receive because they are told that this entire field is just a boys club. Does any of that sound implausible?

      So why is it so implausible that they would want to do something to encourage girls and that they decided to survey "17 women within Microsoft's global research organization" about what is going to happen in the year '17?

      Anyway the given reason is not plausible. It implies that the question was only brought up as an excuse to ask women something. If we want this question answered because it is important, then we should focus on having it answered and not performing some gender equality stunt.

      I see. Your problem is that we are actually taking their answers seriously. You seem to think that because they are women they are not qualified to talk about their fields. If you think that this question is important enough that we should focus on having it answered, why didn't you follow the link to the blog post to find out what the answers were? Why wasn't your argument that they seemed like low quality answers? I think that it's because you just can't get past the fact that they are women.

      I'm afraid you have no point and little awareness of the broader picture.

      Perhaps if you bothered to look at the specifics of this case rather than worrying about the broader picture then you would actually be able to make an accurate assessment. But if you can't be bothered looking at the facts of the case, how can we deem your idea of the broader picture to be valid? If you are so set in your opinions that even having the article quoted to you to show where you are wrong just gets ignored, then I feel my diagnosis of you having a coloured view of the world stands. You shou

    22. Re:What does THAT have to do with anything? by aristotheron · · Score: 1

      The fact that you are making such an effort to deny it and ignore my criticism of your argument could be taken as proof that I am correct on all counts.

      If you have reason on your side why are you being so defensive and rancorous?

      Anyway
      You are totally ignoring that affirmative action exists everywhere and is totally unjustifiable. So other than having absolutely no idea what you're talking about, good work.

    23. Re:What does THAT have to do with anything? by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      The fact that you are making such an effort to deny it and ignore my criticism of your argument could be taken as proof that I am correct on all counts.

      The fact that you have ignored everything in the article AND everything that I have said in preference to your mere suspicions about social justice shows that you are not even in the ballpark of correctness. It's also interesting that you consider attempts to educate you (including citing sources) to be being defensive.

      So let's see your stunning argument that I can't refute...

      You are totally ignoring that affirmative action exists everywhere and is totally unjustifiable.

      That argument is completely demolished by all the places that I have shown that this has absolutely nothing to do with affirmative action. This is about encouraging girls to choose STEM careers. If they are successful then there will be more women graduating in computer science, leading to more female applicants for tech jobs, and therefore less need for affirmative action programs.

      Surely that is precisely what you want? The only reason why you would be arguing against this is because you don't understand it. You just saw that they spoke with 17 women and instantly decided it was affirmative action. Just because affirmative action exists does not mean that everything that happens in the world is a result of it. You have not provided a single shred of evidence to support the idea that this is affirmative action. In fact, you yourself admitted that you just guessed that it was:

      Yet we are left to guess at what that reason is.

      I guess we should be thankful that you didn't decide that it was all about climate change. That would have been just as relevant as the argument you have been making.

    24. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      In context of a Slashdot submission, it's important to inspire the slashdotting high-school girls? :)

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    25. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by tsqr · · Score: 2

      The stats are there for anyone who cares enough to search them out. But you've moved the goalposts. You originally claimed that girls don't use FB, which is demonstrably untrue. Now you're shifting to "most girls use other platforms"; this may well be so, but is a different matter that I wouldn't have taken issue with.

    26. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by Nutria · · Score: 1

      #eyeroll

      The fact that a small minority of teenage girls (occasionally? your stats don't say) use FB doesn't negate the fact that Instagram and Snapchat are *the* SM sites for teen girls (in the US, at least).

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    27. Re:What does THAT have to do with anything? by aristotheron · · Score: 1

      You are obsessed with quibbling over this specific article when its only significance is in a bigger picture. And you have absolutely NO POINT about the article itself. When your points are refuted you turn to taking things out of context and twisting meanings to fit your point of view, and above all cherry-picking an appropriate scope of things to fit your point of view regardless of any rationale.

      If this is "about encouraging girls to choose STEM careers" then it is a falsehood because on its face it says "Microsoft Researchers Offer Predictions For AI, Deep Learning" which implies a different purpose entirely. Why do they need to lie in order to push this "self esteem booster" for women?

      "less need for affirmative action programs"
      And what is the need to begin with? It seems like your entire point of view is based on this but you feel content to blather on and never explain the foundation for your supposed argument.

      I know you've probably grown up in a "hug box" where you are "never wrong", but learn this lesson: when you become this obsessed over a simple thing, you are wrong and you know it. Learn how to lose, learn how to change your mind. There's not much time left for your kind of extremist "intellectual tribalism", it would benefit your survival.

    28. Re:What does THAT have to do with anything? by aristotheron · · Score: 1

      The only one expressing hatred here is you

    29. Re:What does THAT have to do with anything? by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      You are obsessed with quibbling over this specific article when its only significance is in a bigger picture. And you have absolutely NO POINT about the article itself.

      Oh this is hilarious! I'm obsessed with quibbling about the specifics of the article, and yet at the same time I have no point about the article? Which is it??? There is no significance in any bigger picture because this topic was not about affirmative action in the first place. It was presented here about tech predictions for next year and beyond. That fact that this was done as part of a project to encourage girls (which once again has nothing to do with affirmative action) is just coincidental and deemed so irrelevant that it barely rated a mention.

      When your points are refuted you turn to taking things out of context and twisting meanings to fit your point of view, and above all cherry-picking an appropriate scope of things to fit your point of view regardless of any rationale.

      Oh the laughs just keep coming! When have you EVER even referred to (let alone refuted) my points at all, other than to say that they are irrelevant because I'm not looking at the big picture? How have I taken things out of context when I keep quoting and linking to everything that I have written about? And cherry picking the scope??? Which of us wants to talk about the story as posted, and which of us wants to ignore it and talk about the big picture? That is changing scope. I am the only one who has stayed on topic. As I said, you might as well have talked about climate change for all the relevance it had on this /. story.

      If this is "about encouraging girls to choose STEM careers" then it is a falsehood because on its face it says "Microsoft Researchers Offer Predictions For AI, Deep Learning" which implies a different purpose entirely. Why do they need to lie in order to push this "self esteem booster" for women?

      How is that a lie? Are they not Microsoft Researchers? Do they not offer predictions on topics like AI and Deep learning? The headline is correct. The fact that they asked women in the hope of inspiring the next generation of girls is not something that they hid. They opened with that information. Where is the lie???

      "less need for affirmative action programs"
      And what is the need to begin with? It seems like your entire point of view is based on this but you feel content to blather on and never explain the foundation for your supposed argument.

      And look who is the one who is lying. Could you point to the the part where I ever advocated a need for affirmative action? All I have said is that this ISN'T an affirmative action program, and that if it works then there won't be a need to have one. And what would the need be? I pointed out that companies are named and shamed for not achieving a gender balance, so to avoid negative PR then Microsoft would want to increase the intake of high achieving girls. At no point have I said that I want them to have gender balance. In fact, I have said that my natural tendency is to be suspicious of this sort of thing, and that in my early years I would have been ranting just like you. Does that really sound like someone who advocates affirmative action?

      I know you've probably grown up in a "hug box" where you are "never wrong", but learn this lesson: when you become this obsessed over a simple thing, you are wrong and you know it. Learn how to lose, learn how to change your mind.

      I really hope that you are actually writing this to yourself, because you have been describing you in your comment. Once again, I refer you to my previous anecdote where I said that I was once like you in my teenage years until I realised that I was letting my prejudices cloud my view of the world and I have since learned to examine the facts before deciding. This shows that I am willing to admit when I'm wrong, and that I have already

    30. Re:What does THAT have to do with anything? by aristotheron · · Score: 1

      Not reading any of your insane babbling, but you are no doubt denying your obsession.

      LOOK AT THE WALL OF TEXT

      how do you justify what you're doing?

    31. Re:What does THAT have to do with anything? by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      how do you justify what you're doing?

      I justify it by actually proving what I'm saying, unlike you who simply claims to be right based on guesses and preconceived notions of the "broader picture" without offering a single shred of evidence for anything that you say.

      It seems fitting that I finished off by asking you to admit one of your mistakes; that you hadn't even read the article about which you ranted and raved. It seems fitting that you didn't even read that!

    32. Re:What does THAT have to do with anything? by aristotheron · · Score: 1

      This is what I love about your kind. You love "evidence" but you have no idea what it is.
      Go ahead and try to define it.
      Then I'll give you the correct answer.

    33. Re:What does THAT have to do with anything? by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      It doesn't matter if you and I have different definitions of evidence, because you haven't even attempted to provide anything that could be considered remotely like evidence. Your entire argument is that affirmative action exists; they only surveyed women; so therefore this is an example of affirmative action. You managed to do this all without reading the article. When I pointed out that the article directly contradicts what you admitted what just a guess, you said that their stated reason was implausible and so what you guessed is more accurate.

      And now, in an attempt to deflect the conversation away from your obvious mistakes, you state that my definition of evidence is wrong. But guess what? Yet again you provide no evidence to back up that absurd statement (by anyone's definition). You refuse to say what you think my "wrong" idea is or what your "correct" answer is.

      Your logical skills are flawed and you seem to have reading comprehension problems, so I can't imagine you could outwit me based on the definitions of words. I bet the only reason why you would ever open a dictionary would be to colour in all the 'O's!

    34. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      Thus, I don't need a snotty left-wing punk to "educate" me about women in IT.

      And yet clearly you do. Otherwise, why else would you have felt the need to post on this subject and been so riled up enough to start slinging around insults?

    35. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by Nutria · · Score: 1

      This has zero to do with IT. It's because they explicitly chose only women.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    36. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      Oh good. I'm glad that it's not just women in IT that you have a problem with.

    37. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by Nutria · · Score: 1

      The way that you twist my words is strongly indicative of trolling.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    38. Re: What does THAT have to do with anything? by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      The true troll is the one who diverts the discussion off topic by fixating on the gender of the researchers rather than the predictions they made. And all this because of one single word in the summary! I have to admit you were very successful in doing this.

    39. Re:What does THAT have to do with anything? by aristotheron · · Score: 1

      The point is your "definition" of evidence is base completely in emotion. You couldn't define it because it doesn't exist.

      You are obviously and seriously mentally ill and probably illiterate. I addressed and refuted every point you tried to make.
      For anything I say against you, you then get the idea to say the exact same against me. I don't think you realize how obvious this is.

      Your time in your echo chamber has severely warped your mind. Take a break. Forever. You can't handle the news.

    40. Re:What does THAT have to do with anything? by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      Oh how sweet. You're still around. And you're still trying to peddle that evidence argument.

      The point is your "definition" of evidence is base completely in emotion.

      Really? Perhaps you can provide some non-emotional evidence for that assertion. You see, I have quoted you before. I have quoted the articles that we are (supposed to be) discussing. I have also linked to other sources to back up my claims.

      You have done none of this. You don't quote anything. you don't cite anything. You make off-topic claims that get more fanciful all the time. My "emotional" evidence for my claim is this entirely unrelated tangent you are going on now about the definition of a word. You just keep changing the subject all the time because you can't actually back up your original rant and are desperate to move the topic elsewhere.

      You are obviously and seriously mentally ill and probably illiterate.

      That's funny, especially the part about me being illiterate. Remind me again which of us was able to actually read the article? Which of us refused to read what the other posted because it was a "wall of text"?

      I addressed and refuted every point you tried to make.

      That is obviously not true if you admit that you haven't even read some of what I have written. But even then, your so-called refutations tend to be just generalisations. I have quoted the article to you where they explain their reasons, cited an OECD report and U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics demonstrating the need to tackle the issue of female representation in computer science education, and given my cynical analysis of Microsoft's motives based on their self-interest (none of which had anything to do with affirmative action), and this was your refutation of all that:

      The fact that you are making such an effort to deny it and ignore my criticism of your argument could be taken as proof that I am correct on all counts.
      ...
      You are totally ignoring that affirmative action exists everywhere and is totally unjustifiable.

      Wow! That is your idea of you refuting my every point? Colour me unimpressed.

      For anything I say against you, you then get the idea to say the exact same against me.

      Yes, of course I do. That is because you keep saying stupid things that really apply to you. For example:

      You are obsessed with quibbling over this specific article when its only significance is in a bigger picture. And you have absolutely NO POINT about the article itself. When your points are refuted you turn to taking things out of context and twisting meanings to fit your point of view, and above all cherry-picking an appropriate scope of things to fit your point of view regardless of any rationale.

      So in one paragraph you say that I spend too much time talking about the article and yet I don't talk about the article. Also, you say I should look at the bigger picture instead and then claim that I am the one who wants to change the scope of things to fit my point of view! But ignoring your logical incongruities, naturally I have to reflect what you said back at you.

      Because it is you, and not me, who has absolutely no point about the article.
      Because it is you, and not me, who wants to change the scope from the article to "the big picture".
      Because it is you, and not me, who uses emotion rather than logic and evidence.
      Because it is you, and not me, who doesn't read things and then claims that the other person is illiterate.
      Because it is you, and not me, who gives the lesson "when you become this obsessed over a simple thing, you are wrong and

  9. Re: fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, I failed the fp. However, it's true that all logged-in users are faggots.

    You also fail at generalizations.

  10. Yawn. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yaaaaawwwn.

  11. Re: fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    your logged in to post as what might be called "Anonymous login".

  12. The Last Time Microsoft Predicted Something.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It was wrong, just like every prediction they made before that. Microsoft's only selling point was having the best development tools around (and therefore crowdsourced development of applications for their platform) and they've both cross-compiled that for other platforms now AND crippled it with the whole Windows Universal garbage excuse for a development platform. Everything from the memory in a computer to the internet to politics they have been dead wrong on, the only thing they do well is muscle out other companies with their Army of Harvard lawyers (about 25% of their workforce) and take ideas from others through other means when they don't actually need to call in the lawyers. Hell, the other year their CEO declared the company had an issue with "too many white males" and fired everyone in their Finland office, killing Nokia in the process. And now, to top it all off, they're turning to women to predict the future. Astounding.

    1. Re:The Last Time Microsoft Predicted Something.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I bet you're horrendously ugly. It would explain your sad attitude.

  13. Re:ATTENTION! by negRo_slim · · Score: 1

    How about we don't fix what isn't broken?

    --
    On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
  14. Predictions by Microsoft? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    640K should do it, then :--)

    1. Re:Predictions by Microsoft? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You should listen to them. These are the people responsible for "Bob" and "Clippy".

  15. Disappearing Search Box by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In 2027, Google can finally complete its journey of courage and present only a blank page for the user. In Chrome, that will bravely be about:blank.

  16. TL;DR by b783719 · · Score: 1

    TL;DR: It's actually 17 predictions for 2017 and 17 for 2027 predictions on 17 (almost) different questions about technology by 17 different MS female researchers.

    TL;DR for TL;DR: some women talking about predictions

    TL;DR for TL;DR for TL;DR: sry, no b**bs. only research guesses

  17. You have got to be joking by SuperKendall · · Score: 2

    *virtue_signal*I don't mind these are all women, I think it's great.*virtue_signal*

    However, how many times on Facebook now have I seen an image of "Tumps Economic Team" noting that it's all men and a few of them named Steve to boot? (Never mind that he has already appointed a few women for various roles, or that he won the election because of a team of women)

    You seriously do not think MS would be roasted if in this ay and age they came out with a think piece like this, all from men?

    Heck, you are doing that RIGHT NOW.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  18. An Actual Comment About the Article by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Since every other post seems to be eye-rollinging inept trolls or meta-commentary about gender along the full spectrums, I thought I'd actually pos about the content since I read most of the article before I saw it on Slashdot...

    It's more interesting than you might think as the people polled are from different technical fields, so the answers are a lot more varied than you usually get in a predictive piece.

    If you take a step back though what is really interesting is how much the whole thing together looks like the parable of the blind men and the elephant, each describing only the part they could feel.. The actual future we reach by 2027 will be a really odd mash of all the answers given, where a breakthrough in any number of fields could change the dominance of one answers probability over the others..

    Personally I hold out for the dark horse of computational biology taking the forefront by 2027. Perhaps that ship at the end of System Shock 2 was... US!

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re: An Actual Comment About the Article by Maritz · · Score: 1

      It must be weird to be quite so pathetic/scared of women. What do you find so threatening about them? Is it because you're a fucking hideous troll, or something? That tends to be the case, I find.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    2. Re: An Actual Comment About the Article by zlives · · Score: 1

      its also weird that MS would spell out "17 women" why does that even matter?
      unless it was to compare a result from "17 men"
      its actually kinda weird thinking that was this a sample of people self identified as "women" and why not other gender tags...

  19. Not so subtle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Pretty thinly veiled attempt by MS to get free publicity from media outlets sympathetic to SJW crusades against straight white cisgendered men.

    Looks like /. is as much about culture wars as it is tech news.

    In b4 AmiMoJo is triggered by this post.

    1. Re:Not so subtle by Maritz · · Score: 1

      I'm a white, cisgendered male, and feel none of the pathetic fear that you do. They can ask women whatever they like and it's fine by me. Just as well we're not all like you isn't it?

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    2. Re:Not so subtle by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      You are a wackjob. Why does it matter you are a white, cisgendered male? It is the Internet. No one knows what you are. You might be a dog. Ask yourself why the post said "17 women" and not "17 researchers" or "17 thought leaders"? It is denigrating to those polled to be simply identified by their gender, instead of their relevant expertise.

    3. Re:Not so subtle by bfpierce · · Score: 1

      Because it's a fact that the 17 people they polled were women?

      Are you that insecure? lol

    4. Re:Not so subtle by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      No, because they identified them only by their gender, not their relevant expertise. Why didn't they call them "researchers"? That is very demeaning to only identify people by their race or gender if it isn't relevant to the issue.

    5. Re:Not so subtle by bfpierce · · Score: 1

      They did, if you read the entire sentence. Part of the second one help too with the whole 'context' thing.

      I know, it's a tough thing to read entire lines of text when you've obviously got a chip on your shoulder. That's a hard weight to carry.

    6. Re:Not so subtle by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      They did eventually use "researchers" in one of the sentences. The first sentence is: "Microsoft polled 17 women working in its research organization about the technology advances they expect to see in 2017".

      Not "researchers" or "experts", but "women".

      That is demeaning. You know exactly what I mean talking about. Of course you are a fuckwit who will never admit it so I won't even bother.

    7. Re:Not so subtle by bfpierce · · Score: 0

      They only thing I know here is that you got triggered by the word 'Women'.

    8. Re:Not so subtle by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      I'm sure those 17 women/researchers/thought-leaders will be grateful to be defended by someone whose first instinct is to call people abusive names. Did you ask those 17 people if they actually felt denigrated to be called women? Did you even read the blog post that inspired the article (listed at the bottom of the /. summary) to find if there was a reason why they chose to just talk to women and why they wanted to let the world know this? The answer to both those questions is no.

      They asked women to counteract "the dearth of women in computing fields [due to] the lack of professional role models who could inspire girls to pursue their STEM dreams". They did this to celebrate Computer Science Education Week. So they want people to know that they were women. For this purpose, the women would be quite happy to be known as women.

    9. Re:Not so subtle by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      I'm sorry that Slashdot isn't a safe place for you. Should we have "women" listed as a trigger warning?

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  20. Did they make any predictions about Windows 10? by iampiti · · Score: 2

    I guess that in 2027 it will still spy you without the user being able to disable that.

  21. innovative synergy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    trying to harness the old 'womens intuition' thing....

    but then, clippy was the idea of Bills wife.....

  22. MS asked 17 blind people their vision of the futur by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    or

    MS asked 17 people > 6.5ft tall

    It's important because only x % of the population is > 6.5ft

  23. Re:And I predict by Maritz · · Score: 1

    I daresay you've had enough sandwiches for one morning.

    --
    I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  24. blend or alter perceives reality? by fredrated · · Score: 1

    Great, fake news isn't bad enough, now we will wire the fake news directly to our brains?

  25. crop rotation? by haggisns · · Score: 1

    The summary posted mentions crop rotation but the article itself does not mention it. Thankfully using AI to perform crop rotation is not in the article. Imagine an AI telling us to rotate to different crops on the same land, I think we figured this out hundreds of years ago by illiterate farmers ( don't mean to disparage farmers, high kudos to all farmers, only trying to stress the point of dumbing down of modern society and losing our knowledge which used to be common sense and now thinking only AI could tell us how to farm properly)

  26. Jeebus Jumped Up Christ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think the idea was to discuss the PREDICTIONS and NOT THE GENDER OF WHO MADE THEM!
    Everyone here has taken the bait. Congrats!

  27. Re:And I predict by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    Except that sudo won't work on them since they're running Windows. ;)

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20