"They justify this by arguing that "that insistence can only come from one place: that gender—specifically, masculinity—is inextricably linked to software"."

This justification reveals Joyent's (and many others) misunderstanding of English. The usage of the third person male pronoun is, and has been for many years, considered to be gender neutral. This is the case in many other languages, such as German and French. Sexism is a big issue, but I am not convinced grammar is the place to have this fight.