Aussie IT staff calendar proves too big a hit

A calendar of female IT staff in Australia has caused a storm after proving massively popular and suffering a denial of service attack.

The Screen Goddess calendar, was the brainchild of Sonja Bernhardt, chief executive of Thoughtware and founder member of Women in Technology International. It features twenty IT staff recreating famous film scenes, including Ursula Andress rising from the sea in Thunderball and Princess Leia in the gold bikini from Star Wars.

"We're doing this to smash through the perception of the geeky technologist," said Bernhardt.

"We want to put a spotlight on the industry and increase national interest and awareness (in careers in information technology) and raise awareness of the diversity of women in IT."

The web site for the calendar wracked up 3.5 million hits in 24 hours from eager punters, but was then shut down on Friday after a distributed denial of service attack was launched against it from the United States. Money raised from sales will be used to encourage more women to get into IT.

Even before publication the calendar stirred controversy after the Australian Computer Society pulled its support - judging the cover, which features an IT service manager recreating the rose petal scene from American Beauty.

"The use of a naked woman on the cover was unlikely to achieve the objective of attracting young women into IT careers," said ACS president Philip Argy.

"The ACS could not condone the professed objective of maximising sales to men. Many workplaces would refuse permission to display the calendar, thus detracting from its success."

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