Slashdot Mirror
How 8 Pixels Cost Microsoft Millions
NubKnacker writes "Economic Times, one of India's biggest business daily's is carrying a story about how a small colouring mistake forced Microsoft to recall 200,000 copies of Windows 95. This wouldn't be the first time that has happened to Microsoft. From the article, "Microsoft has also managed to upset women and entire countries. A Spanish-language version of Windows XP, destined for Latin American markets, asked users to select their gender between "not specified," "male" or "bitch," because of an unfortunate error in translation." Ouch!"
This is a dupe. Too bad the editors don't bother checking the dupe email box.
Come one, come all, for the greatest dupe on earth... It's not the exact same article, but it's the exact same source materiel...
If I was low on Karma, I'm sure I could Karma Whore and just copy high scoring posts from the previous article...
[Insert obligatory Chevy "No va" story here.]
"To be absolutely certain about something, one must know everything or nothing about it." -- Olin Miller
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5316664.html
Looks like everyone else is a week behind the times...
-- Dave
up 12 days, 22:30, 2 users, load averages: 993.20, 994.21, 994.56
*makes note to limit user processes...
NEW DELHI: Just when the antitrust case went in sleeping mode, Microsoft managed to get into yet another fiasco. This time the software giant is hit by information misrepresentation or shall we say goof up.
The lack of multicultural savvy attitude cost the software giant millions of dollars.
Microsoft products have been banned in some of the biggest markets, including India because of eight wrongly colored pixels, a bad choice of music and a bad English-to-Spanish dictionary.
Tom Edwards, head of Microsoft's geopolitical strategy team told a conference in Glasgow, how one of the biggest companies in the world managed to offend one of the biggest countries in the world with a software slip-up, CNet Asia reported.
When coloring in 800,000 pixels on a map of India, Microsoft colored eight of them a different shade of green to represent the disputed Kashmiri territory. The difference in greens meant Kashmir was shown as non-Indian, and the product was promptly banned in India. Microsoft was left to recall all 200,000 copies of the offending Windows 95 operating system software to try and heal the diplomatic wounds. "It cost millions," Edwards said. If this was not enough, Microsoft used chanting of the Koran used as a soundtrack for a computer game, which led to great offence to the Saudi Arabia government. The company later issued a new version of the game without the chanting, while keeping the previous editions in circulation because US staff thought the slip wouldn't be spotted, but the Saudi government banned the game and demanded an apology. The game was then withdrawn.
The software giant managed to further offend the Saudis by creating another game in which Muslim warriors turned churches into mosques. That game was also withdrawn.
Microsoft has also managed to upset women and entire countries. A Spanish-language version of Windows XP, destined for Latin American markets, asked users to select their gender between "not specified," "male" or "bitch," because of an unfortunate error in translation.
Microsoft has also seen its unfortunate style of diplomacy have an effect in Korea, Kurdistan, Uruguay and to China--where a cartographical dispute saw Chinese employees hauled in front of the government.
Edwards said that staff members are now sent on geography courses to try to avoid such mishaps. "Some of our employees, however bright they may be, have only a hazy idea about the rest of the world," he said.
[Insert obligatory Snopes link here]
8 pixels is nothing to be mad about. Microsoft has flooded Poland in win2k/xp. Just check the map in time zone setting. They didn't get banned here though. Seems they predicted how global warming affects Europe in the future.
I managed to save a screenshot (well, actually HTML) of the pulled story, because everything (including my comment) disappeared. Check out my Journal entry about it. If you try replying to my comment in the Journal entry, you get a message like:
Submitted Comment
There was an unknown error in the submission
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
In the Spanish version, they used "hembra" instead of "mujer". There is a more descriptive article.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Ford Pinto was introduced in the USA in 1970, while Ford Corcel was introduced in Brazil in 1968. The Corcel was actually a Renault design, made under license by Willys in Brazil. Ford in Brazil merged with Willys in 1968. They made a "Ford Jeep" for several years in Brazil.
This post was copied from the previous article.
irb(main):001:0>
You marked my last post as Flamebait and rejected my last story about the secrecy behind the companies who are doing testing for the touch-screen voting but post a dupe of a previous story so knock yourselves out.
On Slashdot, moderators are just other Slashdot readers; editors are the people who run the site and have the ability to post articles. So, no, the people who mod you down (moderators, i.e. your peers) did not post this dupe. In the case of unfair moderation, meta-moderators (also just regular Slashdot readers) can mark the moderation as unfair, and the moderator loses karma, which makes them less likely to be selected as a moderator in the future.
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
The problem arises from the fact that there are different words for the english aceptions of "male/female". You use "Masculino/Femenino" for gender, and "Macho/Hembra" for animals, or cable plugs.
We all know Microsoft's engineering is mediocre. They are known for their marketing strength and muscle. With all this marketing you would think they can take care to map disputed territories with some sensitivity. You would think they could understand the language nuances from country to country. They certainly have the money to afford to do this!
Religion is the main cause of atheism.
To see how Microsoft really feels, read this excerpt from http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,128 5890,00.html
For example when employees were arrested in Turkey because Kurdistan had been shown as a separate entity on maps of the country, a decision was taken to remove Kurdistan from all maps.
"Of course we offended Kurds by doing this but we had offended the Turks more and they were a much more important market for our products. It was a hard commercial decision, not political."
Sigs are for lusers. Hey! wait a second...
*sigh*
Just stop plugging this stuff already. As somebody who has lived in Spain for the last 14 years I can tell you with 100% certainty that "nova" and "no va" are pronounced differently, and nobody says "no va" referring to cars here anyway.
A Spanish-language version of Windows XP, destined for Latin American markets,...
You fail.
~ Aero
I believe the games were Kakuto Chojin for xBox and Age of Empires.
Damm Wrong!!!
They used the word "HEMBRA", which us used for female animals, not for women. In every spanish speaking country, the word is considered offensive if applied to a woman, although in some countries is much more insulting than in others.
PENAROL: Seras eterno como el tiempo y floreceras en cada primavera.
I think not. The difference in enunciation to the respective native audiences is exactly the same with both examples.
no-VA vs NO-va, and NO-ta-ble vs no-TA-ble.
Today's weirdness is tomorrow's reason why. -- Hunter S. Thompson
No, snopes is pointing out that a common-usage phrase across all Spanish-speaking langauges ("no va") would not have been a surprise.
"Pinto" is a Portugese Brazillian slang term for penis. This is the same problem that the LaCrosse had... it was a slang term in Quebec/French for masturbation, not a general French word known to all speakers.
Neither of these examples would be caught by your average translator or Spanish/French-speaking marketer.
No, that is not true. I am German and where I come from you always prefix it with 'ein' or 'eine'. Again, "Ich bin ein Berliner" is 100% correct.
Any specific examples? I am not sure how scopes could be right or wrong. They make it pretty clear that they are not making a definite opinion on the subject. They present evidence, give their conclusion, and the rest is up to you. It's a lot better than just assuming something is true.
Putting aside the parent's comment about where the blame lies, I'd like to clarify the objective part of his point:
In Spain, forms with gender ask you to choose between M and V, or Mujer and Varon (women and man). In the past, H was used instead of M, standing for Hembra, which is the word for the female of a species. Although this wasn't quite as bad as in English (since 'bitch' in our language has several other negative meanings), it still was clearly not OK. Hence the change to M in forms.
No form today in Spain or anywhere would have H for Hembra, and it certainly should not appear in anything put out by a software company.
In Central American Spanish "male and female" can be translated to "macho y hembra" or "masculino y femenino". "Macho y hembra" refer mostly to animals, while "masculino y femenino" are used with humans, and are considered correct when used in, say, a fill out form. "Hembra", while not strictly a profanity sounds very rude when used on women.
The perfect sig is a lot like silence, only louder
bzzz, wrong answer. Hembra is a pretty loaded term in Spain too. The term ss rarely used describing human females. When it is used, it is done typically among males to describe a well-shaped , good looking woman. When used this way, it is similar to the american "babe", Johnny Bravo style.
Thus, for a Spaniard, asking you if you are a "macho" or an "hembra" would be as appropiate as being asked if you're a stud or a babe: The only computer program that could get away with that would be a Larry Laffer game.
"Who would know that the Indian govt. would be overly sensitive to Kashmir?"
Sorry, but this may sound patronizing. India and Pakistan have squabbled and fought minor wars over Kashmir for half a century. Almost every single time India and Pakistan make the news - which they do regularly, here in Europe - Kashmir gets a mention, with India accusing Pakistan of funding, training and arming insurgents in Kashmir, Pakistan denying vehemently.
Since India and Pakistan are now nuclear powers, this gets attention in countries that know what being bombed feels like, i.e. every non-American country. Kashmir may yet spark the next nuclear holocaust.
The map was indeed the timezone map. The all green undifferentiated map is the 'fixed' version. The original had boundary lines; when they removed them for kashmir, they removed all boundaries for all versions of windows.
Note that the Economic Times and the Times of India, while part of the same group (Bennett and Coleman Ltd.), are two different newspapers. The former, which carries the article, is a respected (if slightly sensational) business daily, while the latter, which you cite, is just toilet paper.
The original Age of Empires includes "priest" units that can "convert" enemy units and buildings -- i.e., causing the target (say, a temple) to change sides. Thus I could take a Persian or Egyptian priest and convert Roman and Greek units to my side.
No matter what you do in life, it will offend someone, somewhere. ;)
All about me
rhymes with 'Fozzie'. Those are voiced sibilants.
GENERAL PUBLIC SIGNATURE (GPS) Any replies (derivatives) of this post must also use the GPS
It wasn't unreasonable to use "hembra" for female; the standard Spanish translation of the Bible itself uses "varon y hembra" in Genesis for "male and female". From what I understand, it was only in one country where "hembra" is used disparagingly.