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Writing Software for Worldwide Distribution Proves Difficult

lupa1420 writes "Insensitive computer programmers with little knowledge of geography have cost the giant Microsoft company hundreds of millions of dollars in lost business and led hapless company employees to be arrested by offended governments."

8 of 1,391 comments (clear)

  1. What the rest of the world is like by Peter+Cooper · · Score: 1, Troll

    It's just shows you what the non Western world is like, really, when they get all upset about minor cultural oversights. They'll get over it and enter the bland world of fast-food, TiVo, billboards, and corporate drudgery soon enough though.

    If a program accidentally showed Alaska as still belonging to Russia, I'm sure the US government wouldn't be delighted, but I can't see the developer getting arrested for it or the software even getting banned.

  2. Re:Insular US by Bluesman · · Score: 0, Troll

    I don't think the problem in the U.S. is because of a feeling of superiority or nationalism.

    If you look at the National Geographic Survey, most Americans can't even locate 10 U.S. states on a map.

    Rather, our education system has been overtaken by a prgressive movement that abhors any and all rote learning. God forbid that kids have to learn where countries are, that might stifle their creativity.

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  3. Re:Master / Slave HDD by akintayo · · Score: 0, Troll

    Well ... the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the word "Slave" is the African slave trade and its effect on my people. The context in which the word is used really doesn't matter, and in this case I think Primary/Secondary would have been preferable.

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  4. Re:Specific Ocean? by micromoog · · Score: 0, Troll
    And apparently 0 out of 1 National Geographic surveyors knows how to express proportions as percentages. Which is clearer: "23 out of 56", or "41%"?

    Unless they're saying they only asked 56 kids to begin with. In which case the "fact" is bunk and shouldn't have been published.

  5. WSJ editorial page is nuts by JimmytheGeek · · Score: 0, Troll

    Weirdly, wildly unbalanced. In the 7th year of the Clinton years, they were giving credit for anything good to Bush the Elder, or Reagan. "It takes time for policies to have an effect!" Then with the slightest bubble in employement numbers - more due to people's benefits running out than actually getting jobs: "W == teh l337!"

    They even publish stuff from that game show celebrity-equivalent Bill Bennett (Famous because...he's famous. Not for his brains, or insight, or achievements. Drug czar? We sure won that one under his watch! Education czar? Schools were sure shitty...)

    It's really as bad as the "Young Spartacus", just in the opposite side of the spectrum.

  6. It's NOT Apples and Oranges by rd_syringe · · Score: 0, Troll

    Europeans can locate things in Europe. Guess what, Europe is a collection of countries. The United States can be thought of as a group of areas as well. It's the same thing.

    Europeans not knowing where Florida is is not different from knowing where Sweden is. Florida is part of the US, and Sweden is over in Europe.

  7. B-but by rd_syringe · · Score: 0, Troll

    B-but, Microsoft is bad, so this is their fault, because we must meet the daily quota of Microsoft bashing.

    Quick, get him, he's breaking our hegenomy!

  8. Re:fall forever, Pacific Ocean where? by geekoid · · Score: 0, Troll

    "Could someone explain how it is offensive to Muslims?"

    Becasue it was a slow day and they had nothing to blow up that day.
    Those kind of Muslims become overly offended at anything.
    My friends who are Muslim seem to be more tolerent. Probably because we live in a country that tries to seperate politics and religon.

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