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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!"

21 of 734 comments (clear)

  1. Dupe... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Dupe, Dupe, Dupe of Earl....

  2. FIRST DUPE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Another duplicate post...

  3. Dupe! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Or post twice, debug never, as is usual with /.

  4. It's the dupe-iest... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

    http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/08/19/142 203&tid=109&tid=185

  5. Duplicate by CmdrGravy · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Isn't this exactly the same post as was on here 2 or 3 days ago ?

  6. Wait a minute... by Nerd+With+Nalgene · · Score: -1, Redundant

    wasn't there a previous article that covered this?

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  7. **DUPE ALERT** by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

    This is a dupe. Too bad the editors don't bother checking their dupe email box.

  8. EH by sehryan · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Didn't we just do a similar article less than a week ago?

    http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/08/19/1 42 203&tid=109&tid=185

    Yup, looks like we did. I know /. is supposed to have a hardon for everything anti-Microsoft, but this is getting lame.

    And no, I am not new here.

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  9. Chevy NoVa. by wiredog · · Score: 0, Redundant

    "Doesn't Move" in Spanish. May be apocryphal.

  10. Re:Not the first time... by kingswell · · Score: 0, Redundant

    And of course the Chevy Nova in any spanish-speaking country.. it "doesn't go"

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  11. Nooo, another one? How hard is it to check? by hike2 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Slashdot wouldn't be the same without the dupes

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  12. Axe to grind? by Gothmolly · · Score: -1, Redundant

    The writer talks about how the average person has trouble with minor challenges in geography (true enough), but then goes on to talk about Microsoft programmers:

    1, Not knowing where Jammu-Kashmir is, exactly, and not knowing that Indian law prohibits considering it part of anything but India. (Never mind that the law has its own counterpart in Pakistan; you can't avoid breaking the law on this one.)

    2, In a similar vein, having to offend Kurds so as not to offend the Turks with regard to the depiction of Kurdistan.

    3, Offending the Saudis by showing churches turned into mosques by invading Muslim armies...never mind that the exact opposite happens when a Christian army takes over a mosque in the game.

    4, Didn't know that "woman" in one dialect of Spanish means "bitch" in another.

    None of these things seem to me to be so hard to imagine. Do Nicaraguans know that the word "cracker" can be used as a racist term here? Do Indians know that the Argentines go completely apeshit when you refer to the Faulkand Islands as such, rather than by their preferred name for them? And his assertion that Microsoft leaves their employees facing arrest in other countries seems baseless; he didn't mention a single instance. The worst he came up with was "questioned," and that was for calling Taiwan by it's real name. It's not Microsoft's fault that China has a wild hair up their ass over that one, either.

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  13. Re:Not the first time... by DavidBrown · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Not to mention the Chevy Nova. "no va" in Spanish means "won't go".

    The article is interesting, but only part of Microsoft's problems are its fault. Who would know that the Indian govt. would be overly sensitive to Kashmir? I'm sure the Pakistani govt. would reject a version of Windows that shows Kashmir to be part of India. And only God knows what Arabic governments would think about a map showing Jerusalem to be part of Israel.

    If the Germans and the French were still at loggerheads, MS would probably have to show Alsase-Lorraine as belonging to both countries too. And what about Romania? And the eastern half of Poland?

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  14. Deja Slashdot by SirStanley · · Score: -1, Redundant

    http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/08/19/142 203&tid=109

    Hmmmmmmmm.... These stories seem eerily similar

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  15. Re:Not the first time... by Phleg · · Score: -1, Redundant

    And of course there's the incident with the Chevy Nova being released in Spanish-speaking countries.

    "No" meaning, well, "no". And "va" meaning "go".

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  16. Re:Dupe... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant
    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...

  17. Re:Not the first time... by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Also the Nova. Would you buy a car that didn't go?

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  18. mod 0p by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

    simple solution many users of BSD everything else Don't walk around aaproximately 90%

  19. Re:Cost millions?? by SavingPrivateNawak · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Yeah...

    But does anyone remember the story about the Chevrolet Nova?


    ...and post it here... AGAIN? :)

  20. pajero by Kynde · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Luckily Mitsubishi was smart enough to not sell Mitsubishi Pajero under that name in spanish speaking countries.

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  21. Re:Not the first time... by mateoc15 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    The Chevy Nova, although I know of no exact problematic story, translates as two Spanish words (no va) to "it doesn't go". Not such a great name for a car, eh?