[ldd-]

It's an unfortunate situation. I wonder if perhaps it could have been mitigated by small changes to the wording to make it gender neutral:

"A Relationship with Maven..."

- Looks Great

- Complains A lot

- Demands Attention

- Interrupts Us When We're Working

- Doesn't Play Well With Our Other Friends

Of course, the photo to the right would need to be gender neutral, too. Perhaps just the logo.

I can't imagine that such a slide would have any repercussions, but it would get the same point across. It's often not hard at all to just be inclusive.

[gojomo]

A presenter could do that, but the greater specificity – "my girlfriend" – makes for a stronger, more relatable, and mostly self-deprecating joke. After all, he's not saying Maven is "like" his specific, real girlfriend, or girlfriends in general. He's saying Maven "is" his problematic girlfriend.

That makes it an embarrassing confession, about a universally-understandable human situation – having some frustrations with a romantic partner. But he's in a grating relationship with a software tool! The joke's on him!

There's no necessary implication all girlfriends/partners, or all women, fit that model – just that it's a recognizable pattern. Anyone who's ever seen a sitcom, family-comedy-movie, adult-comedy-movie, or stand-up-comic will be familiar with the fact that some SOs/hookups/spouses can sometimes annoy, in the manner of the bullet points.