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Microsoft Apologizes For Inserting Naughty Phrase Into Linux Kernel
netbuzz writes "Microsoft has apologized and promised to rectify the fact that one of its developers slipped a sexist phrase into Linux kernel code supporting Microsoft's HyperV virtualization environment. In that code, the magic constant passed through to the hypervisor reads '0xB16B00B5,' or a slightly camouflaged 'BIG BOOBS.' After Linux developer/blogger Matthew Garrett criticized Microsoft for the stunt, the predictable debate over sexism in the technology world ensued. Microsoft issued a statement to Network World apologizing and added, 'We have submitted a patch to fix this issue and the change will be published in a future release of the kernel.'"
Excuse me but could someone clarify how is "big boobs" sexist phrase? It might mean either gender. For statistical reasons I can verify that my own boobs are often larger than I see on females.
Seems like just yesterday it was just immature. Soon even the word "sexist" will be sexist.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
How many references to big dicks are in the sexist code. Oh the horror.
Ballmer's got 'em, after all.
#DeleteChrome
It could just as easily refer to the man-boobs the 300lb developers have. People need to get a life.
but Microsoft, the "Linux blogger" would have had a big laugh and thought how clever those Linux chaps are.
gotta love source control
Obviously they put big boobs in to swell the kernel.
What's wrong with being sexy? Mine goes up to number 11! :0)
The purpose of existence is to make money.
I'm your stereotypical pro-linux, anti-MS geek, but I have to admit that I found this rather amusing.
I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
How better to attract more geeks to the kernel project, than promises of BIG BOOBS?
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
That's what happens to geeks with all work and no play :)
I have 2xB16B4115 for the 2xB16B00B5 /.ers out there.
most slashdot users have bigger man-tits than half the women in the world.
Just check the Linux kernel swear count: http://www.vidarholen.net/contents/wordcount/
0xBABECAFE or 0xDEADBEEF are both slightly less controversial.
Sexism here: 0xB16B00B5
"Holy shit get out out the fainting couches! Somebody sue something!"
Sexism over there: women put to death for *being* raped
"Huh? Where? Eh..."
...does "this is fucked up" or some derivative of that phrase appear in the kernel?
It seems like 10 or so years ago some open source opponent tried to get the kernel declared obscene (in some Scandinavian country?) because of the number of times the word "Fuck" appeared in the kernel comments.
Micro soft is talking about big boobs.
So now we will be calling it "Hy Perv"?
As with all of the feminist jokes, the punchline is: That's not funny!
[
0x61660705
Or, an even more cleverly written "giggolos".
No one will ever spot it!
Hey, we're supposed to be the good guys. Not the ones overreacting and lobbing thin accusations of "sexism". Who cares if it was Big Boobs? Everyone loves boobs! I like them all sizes :) Honestly, it's a magic number. Does it really matter?
Ok, what Microsoft-hating oversensitive soapbox preacher thought "Hmm, Microsoft must be trying to sabotage our pristine kernel!!1!"
Programmers leave inside jokes. Usually in comments, sometimes variable names, and sometimes in arbitrary values. I'm sure more than one group had a good laugh about the thing on both sides of the wall. If I had a nickel for every time I saw a comment or variable name that could be interpreted as 'offensive' I'd be a rich man. As long as it's not directed at someone (I've seen those too) or hate speech of some kind, just let it go.
One of the reasons that I enjoy programming is because you can embed little jokes into the source without end users noticing -- they're like easter eggs.
Aaaand now feel free to wreck my karma, mods :-p
0xB111111D
All better.
If you Grep the Linux kernel for curse words or slurs, you find many. Or at least, you used to. I haven't really checked since 2.6 The Fbomb will give you plenty of results.
Quick everyone! Hyperventolate! Panic! THE HORROR! OH GNOWES!
Support the EFF and Creative Commons. The war is coming, and they're supporting you...
I mean... ever seen the FreeBSD girl? In person.. I mean.. BOING.
You know it is time to get away from the computer more when hexadecimal porn starts looking attractive.
No comment, there's just a subject on this post, Mr. Lameness Filter.
n/t
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
"Big Boobs" isn't as sexist as it is, er, sexist and/or weightist.
As long as it doesn't turn the evil bits back on our TCP packets, I'm fine with it.
I find it more interesting that 10-year-olds are committing code to the Linux kernel.
Vaguely reminds me of the EDOOFUS "controversy" in the FreeBSD kernel.
I do kind of agree it's sexist, but it's so infantile, i almost say ignore it. I mean, boobs exist, some are big, some are small, some are medium. Guys have big boobs too, and some are big too (I already see Balmer references in this discussion). I almost say, pull the phrase, and let it die, and not be any worked up about it.
Considering the amount of vulgarity already in the Linux Kernel, I'd say that 'big boobs' is a very minor infraction. Also, I call bullshit on "big boobs" being sexist. I find it doubtful that anyone would be complaining if it was 0xA146ED1C (a large dick) instead.
Wait what ? Microsoft fixing a linux kernel code ? Hell, I don't want a bsod on my linux... I REFUSE TO TOUCH LINUX KERNEL FROM NOW ON... BEGONE MS
when I actually yawn you just don't get it.
#define HV_LINUX_GUEST_ID_HI 2976579765 /* That better, fuckers? */
Dec 2976579765
Oct 26132600265
Bin 10110001011010110000000010110101
But this number is dirty in hex, so I won't post it.
or vagina
I think what I find depressing.... in these discussions you see many people pointing out that they don't get it, they don't understand why it is a big deal, etc...
You know what, that is a great thing to say, a great thing to admit. Stop there.
I think what is infuriating to many is people start with "I don't understand" then proceed to "therefor it doesn't matter". Telling people how they should feel about things that you can't understand is the hight of arrogance. Maybe instead these people should take some time and listen, and just accept that other people are impacted by things like this and just because you are not doesn't mean they shouldn't be.
You don't get it. Fine. Then don't tell other people how to feel. Women don't need your big smart male brain to explain how their poor womanly one should react to things that relate to experiences men don't have.
Would anyone have cared if the token was 0xB16BA115? I've heard (and I've done it myself) people refer to well-spec'd out machines as "ballsy." Not exactly professional, but a recognized colloquialism none-the-less.
Maybe it's just time for some people to grow up and not be so offended by little things. Save your outrage for the big stuff.
Sorrie!!
Damn, where's a Y-equivalent when you need one.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Perhaps they were referring to the Booby.
*plays the Apogee theme song music*
that seems to be a foreign subject at Microsoft or maybe their attitude goes like this, 'it's just open source, they them review our code since that is what they claim open source is all about.'
I doubt that attitude of the "engineer" who put that in the code is unique at Microsoft. As they say, sh:t rolls down hill and we know what's producing it at the top of that hill.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
...this wouldn't even make the top 99% on my list.
Microsoft is critized because a developer had been dreaming about what he is missing in his life? Come on!
I don't know why Microsoft would apologize -- programmer nerds love paying tribute to mythalogical things like hobbits, goblins, and female breasts.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Am I really reading a story about outrage over crude hex humor? What's next, emails being passed around to ask me to check a box if I like the project manager girl in the other row?
It's not like the kernel source is not full of dirty words already.
B16D1CK5 ??
Somehow I think not.
Remember Men, it's o.k. if any part of your body gets represented as just a meaningless object used by the opposite sex in graphic novels, movies, or live performances. However, if you so much as look at a woman the wrong way, it's mysogynistic objectification. Except (of course there's always arbitrary exceptions) if it's her wedding day, which is when she is almost completely self-objectified and loves every minute of it.
I swear they give me mod points to shut me up.
In Spanish a good one is 0x00FABADA or for an ethernet address 0xFABADAFABADA
People like sex, gods like sex, birds like sex...
Men like boobs... women like cocks...
Cut the crap people...
It's not the end of the world.
For statistical reasons woman boobs are bigger then mens.
No, women's breasts are (statistically) larger than mens for evolutionary reasons, not statistical ones. In fact, I doubt that statistics themselves have much effect on breast size at all!:-)
What a boob you made of that... (^_^)
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
We would like to apologize sincerely for mocking your breasts. Now, please pass the lube so we can continue the ass raping.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Explains why they didn't put in penis.
Netscape engineers are weenies!
when I say that I'm shocked by this kind of behavior.
Shocked!
B16D1CK5 ??
Then MS would've gotten grief for using an invalid hex value.
#DeleteChrome
He may not have been referring to women. Some developers are so out of shape from being stuck to the computer, they need a BRO or Mansier. That could have been his office nickname.
I am shuddering thinking about this.
Slashdot editors, the title for this post should read "Microsoft Apologized for Big Boobs". Work better next time.
May Peace Prevail On Earth
The new magic constant is 2976579765.
There is enough real sexism that runs throughout tech circles that bringing up stupid things like this does nothing but give deniers more ammunition to point to when dismissing any charges of sexism as stupid.
I am a woman, I used to work in tech (and now do tech for research academics), and I have experienced a pretty large amount of sexist behavior in my career, from the merely annoying ("you must be the secretary" "no, I'm the team lead") to the work affecting and frustrating ("let me condescendingly explain this incredibly simple thing to you and completely tune out anything you're saying because girls are dumb") to the incredibly fucking horrifying ("you should be raped for doing this that way" "stupid cunt" - yes, both said by people I was collaborating with, and the repercussions to them weren't nearly as severe as they should have been for such a transgression).
A variable named big boobs is so not even on my fucking radar and is so fucking stupid to even mention that I'm actually kind of pissed so anyone even mentioned it. It's dumb and childish to put it in in the first place, but who cares?
Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
58008618
Because not as many people can read calculators upside down, so it's less offensive.
Come on! It's not like engineers get to "touch" big boobs very often, but they touch the kernel a lot. Think of the engineers!
Anyone seeing, right next to this story, an ad for "road kill tshirts.com" with a girl with big boobs wearing a shirt that says "I used to care"??? Ah, irony.
They're submitting a patch that changes it to '0x2B00B135'.
#DeleteChrome
Alright well I'm sure Peta takes "dead beef" just as seriously too so send in those patches.
That goes double for java and its sexist cafe babes.
Less people are willing to tolerate the actions and speech of others the closer society gets to the drain.
B16D1CK5 ??
That would offend the Roman legate from The Life of Brian.
A spokesman for Microsoft has issued the following statement in response: "or vagina"
the size of your organ only matters when you play the larger cathedrals.
For some reason, this constant could only be seen by big endian users... Little endian users received "access denied" instead.
that immature, sexist shit like this would stop if women just put out more.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Evelyn Beatrice Hall, re Voltaire
Ya, I fail. I was going to use a 3 for a K and failed to re-read :( Your joke was better.
I swear they give me mod points to shut me up.
In the Solaris kernel, free memory is marked as DEFEC8.
tee hee
Women are getting sluttier every day, it's a race to the bottom. And it's insane how so many have boob jobs. So, if we men notice it, it's sexist. The feminist matriarchy can go to hell.
It was Microsoft calling Linux users Big Boobs. Take it all in context:
hyperv_vmbus.h
Linux defines:
#define HV_LINUX_GUEST_ID_LO 0x00000000
#define HV_LINUX_GUEST_ID_HI 0xB16B00B5
#define HV_LINUX_GUEST_ID (((u64)HV_LINUX_GUEST_ID_HI
Microsoft defines:
enum hv_guest_os_vendor {
HVGUESTOS_VENDOR_MICROSOFT = 0x0001
};
enum hv_guest_os_microsoft_ids {
HVGUESTOS_MICROSOFT_UNDEFINED = 0x00,
HVGUESTOS_MICROSOFT_MSDOS = 0x01,
HVGUESTOS_MICROSOFT_WINDOWS3X = 0x02,
HVGUESTOS_MICROSOFT_WINDOWS9X = 0x03,
HVGUESTOS_MICROSOFT_WINDOWSNT = 0x04,
HVGUESTOS_MICROSOFT_WINDOWSCE = 0x05
};
This is the same kind of crap they use to do to Borland and Lotus developers.
Enjoy,
how this is going to create problems in the balance of things? who the fuck cares what someone writes in some code snippet? is it a big reason to get to the mainstream media? this is just utter crap. Turn on the tv, see someone having their brains exploded by a 'good' sniper, but wait...that's fine... wake fucking up gents.
is it all the government contracts? or all the indians working there?
No, its stupid people posting stupid crap in public forums.
May Peace Prevail On Earth
Why would you not use 9 instead of 6 ?
I don't think it's sexist per say, but I do agree it should be removed from the kernel as its immature and unprofessional.
If something is wrong, its wrong regardless of where it takes place. Does it matter that it was an employee of a large company that did it? The article seems to imply that was the biggest problem: it was done in the workplace. If its sexisim, its sexisim everwhere regardless of any paycheck signing or building.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
JESUS CHRIST
... I would kick Matthew G. out of kernel development for being a butthurt nitpicking lamer.
0x61660705
Or, an even more cleverly written "giggolos".
No one will ever spot it!
That one even works in hex, decimal, or octal.
William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
That's not offensive, that's funny :-). If you didn't laugh then it either means your immature or over sensitive.
There are far worse things in the programming world, the worst of which are normally perpetrated by Microsoft. It's one of those things you have to accept about programming, that people slip references to esoteric and perverted things in their comments. Think of every tv show that slipped sexual references under the radar.
I'm sure there are far more uses of the number 42 then should otherwise be justified as well.
Female developers are more then allowed to add arbritrary penile references, and overuse of 12 inches as a standard of measurement, (of course, there's just a good chance that those will also be from male developers).
The real reason to complain is the rather obvious GPL violation going on. Microsoft needs release all big boobs under the GPL (or a compatible license) in order to avoid legal problems.
Your version would create much more angst, as the kernel wouldn't compile.
Rethinking email
was on slashdot, saw the girl in the ad for "Roadkill T-Shirts," and accidentally did it subliminally. Nothing to see here... it's an accident.
B16D1CK5 ??
Then MS would've gotten grief for using an invalid hex value.
MS would've then pointed out that it is a completely valid MS-HEX value.
Seriously... What an a-hole, I hope someone blows his website up for being a .
@@ -1 +1 @@
-#define CONSTANT 0xB16B00B5
+#define CONSTANT 2976579765
Okay, let's change that magic constant to 0x58008918 and move on...
What about all the other, arguably more offensive comments in the kernel?
This is so stupid.
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
I've "spelled" stuff in hex constants many times, usually when I need a password I could remember (though not very secure I grant you).
Things like DEADF00D, B16DEA1, C01DBEEF, etc.....
There are also some numbers that can't be read as words until you hold them UPSIDE DOWN.
Let the geeks at M$ have their fun. I bet Linus has slipped in a few zingers himself. He's hardly the saint language wise!
It's an entirely different level of stupidity when you try to propagate your idiot joke publicly.
.
You sir - madam are the arrogant one. And a bully.
Being offended is just a form of bullying.
I don't like what you're saying therefore you must comply.
It's a power trip; especially over something as trivial as this.
Grow the fuck up and get a thick skin because if you find this piddly little shit thing "offensive" then you are living in a very very small World and you really need to get out more. Life isn't Disney Land.
I find it funny and if you are offended by it - too fucking bad.
According to the universal rules and guidelines set forth at the Aisaiso Women's Convention, any word, phrase, gesture, or implied version of the same can be construted to be a firing offense for any male in any job in any company, if any woman, anywhere, decides it to be 'sexist'. All she has to do is say that " it's sexist, because I say so..." and the man MUST be fired and his job be given to the woman as compensation for his crimes against humanity (women).
Show any woman who can explain to me in a five hundred words or less what exactly a 32-bit number is and what it is used for, and I will seriously consider her argument that use of the character string '0xB16B00B5' could be considered to somehow be offensive.
Until then, from one girl to another, 'Sister, sit down, and shut the fuck up...'
this is such a non-event - so why would MSFT make a big deal out of it?
the only plausible explanation is that everyone has forgotten that MSFT contributed hyperv support at all...
As a linux user, I'm offended this guy criticized them. I feel like he's speaking for me, perhaps the rest of us. For Christ's sake, boobs are what we feed our children with! Why is this sexist? Why does it matter? I think it's awesome, because I think boobies are awesome.
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
I don't want to live in a world where "big boobs" is a "sexist phrase"
So apparently Linus can put a message about what he loves into the kernel
;^p
#define LINUX_REBOOT_MAGIC2 672274793
#define LINUX_REBOOT_MAGIC2A 85072278
#define LINUX_REBOOT_MAGIC2B 369367448
But this developer can't... I call that hypocrisy...
I thought it was Ballmer's username or something.
I know this is way off-topic, but the fact that Microsoft is developing products with Linux - shouldn't that in some way invalidate the claims that they have against Linux, making accusations that Linux is infringing on Microsoft patents? If I order food at a restaurant and the food is sub-par to my standards, and if I object and say that I am not paying for this sub-par food - if I go on to sit for another 15 minutes completely devouring the so-called "sub par" food and licking the plate, I could be expected to pay the full bill. If I refused to pay and the restaurant sued me, the fact that I ate the food anyway after I complained would be justification that my claims were invalid and the judge would order me to pay the meal ticket, plus the cost of court fees and plaintiff's legal expenses. Maybe even punitive damages to boot.
Kids these days - a "boob" is a fool. Might as well they were making fun of Linux coders - and hit a home run.
Read the article and only hope Microsoft's apology was meant as
"Were sorry for your lack of humor and will change it."
FTA: "since the vast majority of grownups have come to recognize that this kind
of juvenile nonsense has no place in the business world."
I just have this to add: http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/creatures/pages/bunny.html
From the collection of http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/creatures/index.html
I mean, hex strings are a pain in the ass to remember. You have to admit, it's pretty easy to remember 81680085 when you have "big boobs" as a memory aid.
Error ID 10T
The fact that this is even news bewilders me. I mean are programmers relly that bored in this day and age?
If this had happened inside a closed-source project, we never would have seen these 0xB16B00B5, so this is a good thing. Kidding aside, They might have been noticed in a hex dump by some hackers, but more likely it would have stayed an inside joke among the developer who put the value in, and the other 2 people he told.
But it happened in Linux. Somebody noticed it. And it was very quickly determined exactly WHERE the code had come from, WHO put it there, and WHEN. And it was removed quickly.
Next time a closed-source advocate mentions "you don't know where the open source code is written", point this out. You know more about who wrote this code than you possibly could about any closed-source.
Hmm, I wonder...
# grep \xB1\x6B\x00\xB5 windows.vhd
--Joe
I don't know if this guy is the sexist, the homophobic or the heterophobic in this mess (Big Boobs is not a prerogative of only one gender nowadays).
WHY IN HELL a juvenile joke like this demands a public apology from Microsoft? GIT is your friend - patch the joke, communicate the author to do not do it again, and move on!
I'm no fan of Microsoft, but if I was in its shoes, I think this sounds more adequate : FUCK YOU, GARRET! _|_ . #onTheTorvaldsWay
Lisias@Earth.SolarSystem.OrionArm.MilkyWay.Local.Virgo.Universe.org
Interesting how we assume a female would be offended, and assume the original programmer was male...
Holy crap lets not do anything that could make anyone uncomfortable for any reason.
To quote Ricky "whats the big deal? Everyone loves tits!"
It is not sexist period. "Big boobs" is not discriminatory or oppressive.
to be a jackass to you if I so choose. You cannot take that right away from me, it is inalienable. You can believe in not being a jackass all you want. That's fine, most people do. That fact doesn't change the fact that you cannot dictate the behavior of others simply because you are offended. Forcing a re-write and apology is imposing on someone, it's curtailing their freedom of expression through arbitrary standards of offense.
I swear they give me mod points to shut me up.
Paraphrasing a famous Russian saying: how come there are boobs, but there is no name for them? Being ashamed of words is a mental issue. Having a "male guilt" or "white guilt" is a mental issue, too. No one was offended here, being a "white knight" for no reason is shameful.
For showing you have a sense of humor.
Or do we need to rename the A55?
It's all B01100x
The end of all technology looms before US & EU. WTF are we to dodo now? You just cain't trust Microsoft anymore. What is the world coming tooooo?
Unaccountable leaders are masters, and unrepresented people are slaves. How do US and EU fare?
Bob: "Did you see the new HR rep?"
Bill: "Oh yeah! She's 2,976,579,765!"
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Instead of:
#define MAGIC 0xB16B00B5
Why not just change it to:
#define MAGIC 2976579765
That will maintain binary compatibility!
Does anyone else see letting microsoft, sworn enemy of all things linux, contribute to the kernel?
Seriously!
The fix was simple, ro through and replace every example with -1318387531.
There often seems to be a double-standard for some of this type of thing. Where I used to work, some of the same people who would have been annoyed by this and run to HR were the same people who often told "useless man" jokes. If one thinks that men aren't regularly denigrated (at least by the standards of this article) in the workplace, you're sadly mistaken. A joke I once heard. In the beginning, it tends to leave "righteous types" looking very offended:
35% of women worry that their @ss is too big
25% of women worry that their @ss is too small
40% say that he's a good provider and love him just the way he is
By the end, they laugh and find it funny. Why is that?
As many people say "I'd hate for my daughter to be exposed to [behavior X]..."
So would I.I would have for my daughter be skipped for a promotion, have her ideas dismissed as less significant, or otherwise have her future harmed in any way according to her gender. On the other hand, I'll also teach her the difference between a silly joke, deliberate vindictiveness, and damaging discriminate behaviour. Most women I know would recognise that this joke doesn't show hostility to women at all, but rather that - as another bloke aptly put it already - this guy probably still chuckles at the phrases he can write by turning his calculator upside down. Silly, mildly immature, but hardly the cause for great uproar.
There is very little in this world that can be funny without potentially offending somebody. I hope that your children grow up to an world where they can still laugh and have a little fun (even immature fun sometimes), while not suffering because some dumb sod did something truly hurtfully discriminatory. I hope your children find success in their lives, but not at the expense of laughter and happiness.
I'm honestly curious how your thought process took you from:
Someone writes "big boobs" into the kernel , and which apparently is generally considered to be rather unprofessional and mildly mysoginistic...
to this:
Remember Men, it's o.k. if any part of your body gets represented as just a meaningless object used by the opposite sex in graphic novels, movies, or live performances.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
I don't welcome female programmers. I do not like their belief system, I do not like their co-opting everything, their shaming of males, and I don't like that males cannot have little girls brides, when males ruled we could have little girls, now that women rule we cannot.
You are cunts and I hope you burn in hell.
Implying the words "big boobs" isn't sexist... to the nerds who wrote the code, that's a term of deepest reverence.
Seems to me MS is on a roll...
Be seeing you...
It was just microsoft's signature, identifying who they are. Why is it considered sexist I can't understand.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
He's a right winger, through process is simple (necessarily so to avoid taxing very limited resources)
1: get butthurt
2:Climb up on cross
Sexist comedy is never comedic, that's why it's called "comedy".
Fact is most programmers are (young immature) males. Fact is most male humor is of the locker-room variety. This subject has been touched on before, programmers are notorious for using rude words in comments. link. If you want to work in such a male orientated world then you're just going to have to be less sensitive.
:)
ps: I do admire chicks with brains
pps: How do you get that font?
Because 9 cannot fit into a 32-bit dword?
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
The weird thing is that it's referring to Stallman's breasts.
All developers have put crude comments in their code at some point, besides, maybe the Linux Kernel has a thing for big boobs.
Seriously -- maybe they were joking that Linux is developed by big boobs (i.e. foolish or stupid people). There are multiple definitions for boob!
Derek Smalls is Spinal Tap's bass player.
I'm rather surprised I had to scroll down this far before encountering this Tap reference.
Plan My Week for iPhone
I think you accidentally got to the real heart of the issue. Microsoft has to keep up appearances, as an established corporation. But this code was not written in the open source world, not for Linux, and not intended to be distributed at all. It was supposed to be hidden in the basement.
Microsoft was forced to release this code because they released binaries built with GPL components. Those binaries were to make Linux work well with Microsoft's hypervisor. Not to make Linux look good, but to make virtual Linux useable enough that they keep paying for a Windows host license (on the next server, or OS upgrade).
This magic number is a guest OS ID definition for Microsoft's Hyper-V. As far as anyone knows, this might be a magic value already in place in some of Microsoft's code, and they had to use the same value in the Linux implementation. If that's not the case, it's still internal code that they had no intention of releasing as source.
My guess is that someone who doesn't respect Linux intentionally violated the identity convention. In that case, it's not about sexism at all. Substituting a childish phrase for an operating system ID is about respect for the product, and little if anything to do with respect for women. If a woman wants to see it as offensive that is perfectly valid. But from what I can tell not the intent at all.
The "predictable debate over sexism in the technology world" is being driven by people who take things out of context for the increased page loads. It could very well be told as "Source code divulged after GPL violation reveals Microsoft employs at least one immature developer." But the focus on sexism almost makes the ads click themselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel#Hyper-V_submission_by_Microsoft
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff542653(v=vs.85).aspx
I think it's a shame that on this rare occasion when Microsoft displays a sense of humor they get punished for it.
So the kernel will receive the 0x55378008 patch?
See, that's why everybody buys Microsoft products... it's all about the big boobs.
I would object to a method name like that not because it's offensive but because it's badly named. Unless you're rendering porn it is a dismal choice of name, completely unhelpful. As a magic number in a constant it would be infantile but harmless.
Anybody want a peanut?
Granted this seems childish, but how is it sexist or bad?
They didn't even say whether they liked or disliked big boobs.
I mean.. put it this way, my girlfriend would laugh at this, not be upset.
This is hilarious.
1. I work in software development. Boobs are in no way limited to females. In fact, I probably see more man boobs on a daily basis than I do woman boobs.
2. If you can't take a joke that was in no way written to be mean, intimidating, sexist or hurtful... fuck you you fucking whiner.
I have to hear from "progressives" about the evils of religion "sanitizing" people's thoughts and minds. Is this kind of crap any different. Grow a spine. There's a HUGE difference between juvenile and hateful and if you can't tell the difference, you're just plain irritating.
I like it just the way it is.
Pretty sure his boobs are quite huge... don't want to look though.
If you are the type of person that would find this type of thing uncomfortable to begin with, you are exactly the type of person who wouldn't function well in a kernel development environment. I know quite a few female programmers and the best of them are generally busting out as many dumb assed wise cracks as the guys... often more.
This is an excellent example of why there are a ton of women out there who have superior rights (better than equal) including pay checks to match and there are even more which sit around bitching about why men have everything. Some women think men are saying "Their tiny little brains" where in reality, if you're actually a good programmer, it doesn't matter if you're white, black, guy, gal, gay, straight, in a wheelchair or hunchbacked... on the first few days, you might be seen by some idiots as "oh... a girl...", but I wouldn't work with those people, I don't know why you would. But if you actually are a good programmer and are willing to smack people around (the way we do each other), then you'll be fine.
Personally, when I was at my last job and I found out that there was going to be an attractive woman sitting next to me, I saw her and then heard "This is... she has a Ph.D. in digital signal processing" at which point in time I got REALLY excited. I think I spent the next year leeching her brain dry about everything she knew about digital signal processing... we still eat lunch together sometimes even though we both left that company. We have a lot to teach each other. And I can promise you, if we drew a naked girl using ASCII art in the comments of the code, she'd probably put a tattoo on the picture or add a comment like "Closest thing any of these guys will get to seeing a naked woman".
I have to give the guy who added that credit since I was growing tired of 0xdeadbeef, I think 0xb16b00b5 was pretty creative.. though he probably stole it from someone else.
If a woman wants to see it as offensive that is perfectly valid. But from what I can tell not the intent at all.
I don't think anyone is questioning the intent here, just the sheer stupidity of the constant. You do not need to mean harm to inflict it. But you need to care about the others to be careful not to inflict harm. Stupidity is not a valid excuse.
Of course, this constant is mildly annoying, it could be a lot worse.
Write boring code, not shiny code!
Why be offended at a two word phrase of a body part unless sexually objectifying that part offends you? Is there another reason I'm not aware of?
I swear they give me mod points to shut me up.
It's not sexist. It's not discriminating against a particular sex. It's creating an uncomfortable and exclusive environment to the detriment of those of any gender who feel that references to "big boobs" are unprofessional or inappropriate appearing in code like that.
If you did it in in a work environment, it'd be harassment.
It's really more insidious than sexism. It's easy to spot sexism, but trying to explain the ways in which this example is a bad thing will inevitably produce responses of "you're over-sensitive" from people who are not offended by it.
By calling it merely "sexist", it automatically excludes from the discussion any _males_ who find it offensive, as they must be obviously offended on some woman's behalf, not because they find it offensive themselves, and are therefore not vested in the results. (And may well be derided as taking that position merely to get into said woman's pants, which is another great example of things that are not sexist but are still incredibly bad behaviour in a professional environment.)
Paul "TBBle" Hampson
Paul.Hampson@Pobox.Com
I, for one, am *disgusted*.
Not because of the number 0xB16B00B5, and not because of the article author's sexism, but because of Microsoft's apology.
The Microsoft developer that inserted BIG BOOBS in hex into the kernel code wasn't using "boobs" in the context of those things on female's chests, he was obviously referring to Microsoft management. Mr. Garrett is the one pressing his disgusting sexist interpretations into the faces of others, and I for one am not amused.
I couldn't stop remembering Linus Torvalds saying during his speech at Aalto University in Finland recently smth like "those that are offended by my speech probably deserve to be offended". Seriously, someone who if is offended by a hexadecimal constant, is likely having more serious problems than sexist wording in linux kernel.
As another poster accurately pointed out, had said Linux blogger come across something like this put in by some random Linux kernel contributor they would have laughed about it and moved on. A tempest in a teapot is being made about this because MS is involved and plenty of Linux heads hate MS and want to make them look bad.
People will play the discrimination/hurts feelings card over minor things when they are trying to achieve some other ends, not because they are really offended. An example:
One of the advisers at work feels she should have a lot of input on how the website is designed. Problem is everyone has an opinion on websites, and they are all different. As such only the department head has a say. She bugged the web guy with suggestions which he ignored. So she decided to cause trouble. On one page, he needed a reasonably tall vertical image for aesthetics. So he went and snapped a picture of our building. On the outside we have some large half-cylinders that run from the ground floor to the top, just for looks (there isn't anything behind them). I won't call them pretty but they are unique so he used one of those.
Well she complained to the powers that be that it looked like a penis and was as such offensive. No way, no how. It's only (very distant) relation to a phallus at all is that they are both based on the same fundamental geometric shape: a cylinder. As I said is a half cylinder, it is gray, it isn't tapered or anything, and so on. What's more, you have to walk past these to get in to the building every day so if they were "offensive" just working there would be an issue.
She wasn't really offended, it was just her way of trying to force people to listen to her. Worked too, rather than smack her down the powers that be said "Just remove the picture and put something else there."
Same shit here. It is just because people want to make MS look bad, not because this is really sexism. In any other context they'd either roll their eyes and say "That's juvenile," or snicker, because they enjoy juvenile humour, and move on. However they see this as a chance to make MS look bad and so are blowing it up, and Slashdot it helping.
All this ruckus over some juvenile joke?
Seriously, grow up. If you think this is worth a patch, you're retarded. Yeah, it's a bit childish, but it harms nobody, because everyone who feels offended by this already has issues far, far worse.
What ever came of tolerance? You know, the word that once applied to more than just minorities and people who make a living whining for whatever pet issue?
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
This is just a funny little and harmless joke. Actually, Easter eggs are quite common in IT. Let's take the playboy bunny etched in silicone as an example. That's less hazardous to health than silicone implanted within a playboy bunny, isn't it? But I guess the former is more objectionable to some puritans and people without any sense of humor than the latter.
cpghost at Cordula's Web.
All this, when I search for "big boobs" on YouPorn, they turn to be female. Pure luck, right? :P
For me it becomes problematic if people keep throwing their preferences in your face. It doesn't make you sexist if you prefer big or small penises or breasts, and I don't mind if people mention their preferences. It becomes problematic when they are territorial about it. By constantly pointing it out to their environment, through posters, speech, body language or something else, in a way that seems to position their preference as an absolute truth, they take ownership of the space around them, they put their mark on it, claim it for themselves and the ones who share their preferences. If you don't you can feel ill at ease and unwelcome in their environment.
It isn't limited to sexuality, people can be territorial about politics, religion, sports, music and other things too. I'm not sure that sexism or other terms for specific types of discrimination are appropriate here, to me the main issue seems to be that people lack the ability or willingness to recognise that their work environment is a relatively neutral place and that their scent marks shouldn't be so strong that they become offensive to others.
There were a lot of f*ck and sh!t references in the kernel code not too long ago. A lot of them directed at Sun (engineers) too.
Aside: I am not a girl so what does "Aisaiso" mean and which organisations practice these guidelines.
The term nigger was forbidden because it had a specific cultural meaning; that of organic property that had no rights and was deliberately abused.
Similarly 'spastic' has a cultural meaning that defines someone as inadequate. It was replaced by the term disabled. Has the disease changed? No. But the concept of capacity held by a spastic person has.
Now house-wife has been replaced by domestic engineer. Has the job changed? No. Has the pay changed? No. But suddenly unpaid work is equal to a degree-level profession. This is pure glitter and deception.
Some people have boobs and some people have big boobs. Similarly some people have balls and some people have big balls. How many people complain about the words 'big balls'? Neither of these should appear in source code. But who is empowered by not thinking about boobs or balls? That doesn't change human sexuality. This is merely Orwellian thought-crime.
This just strengthens my claim that Microsoft employs 12yr olds to write their code......
entry point into tumescent hypervisor semantic lookup table, has become bloated and engorged over time
people who see sexual innuendo
in almost everything
are not trying hard enough
life imitates Mel Brooks
why are all u bufoons discussiong this small thing in detail like some psycho talk show participants, chill, it was just a nerd having some lulz and thinking about big boobs , whats wrong with that, its natural a nerd would think of those a lot
Couldn't the developer have been referring to the Dictionary.com definition:
boob
noun
1.
a stupid person; fool; dunce.
2.
British . a blunder; mistake.
Yep agree, girls vs boys is a diversion. B16B00B5 disses Linux. However looking at some of the comments, I gotta say, stop being a bunch of whining B16B00B5 the lot of ya :)
Back in the early Netware days I had to assing IPX addys to all my servers.
B16B00B5
BABEFACE
000BABEE
B00B7355
4B00B1E5
were just a few that I used, can't remember the rest.
We had Motorola FRADs for network connectivity (don't ask) and needed help from Motorola on filtering, so it was pretty funny when their engineer first got a look at the traffic. He didn't seem to mind.
Apparently Beavis and Butthead have somehow learned to code, and they're working at Microsoft.
"Huhhuh, huhhuh. Check it out, Beavis: 0xB16B00B5."
"Heheheheh. Uhh... I don't get it."
"It says 'big boobs', dumbass!"
"Oh yeah. Heheheheh. That's pretty cool. Heheheh! Boobs rule!"
"Boobs kick ass."
"Heheheheh! You said 'ass.'"
"Whoa! Windows 7 is a chick!"
"Maybe we can score!"
"Huhuhuh. Bathe her, and bring her to me. Huhuhuhuh."
"The Greens lynched a hacker in Chicago. Last month, but I think the body's still hanging from the old Water Tower."
Why are they allowed to look at a Linux kernel?
how is this sexist? 0xB16B00B5 is clearly an homage to Microsoft's CEO.
OK this is officially the most stupid thing i have read today for sure.. Political correctness has surely crossed over into the twilite zone.. How is "big boobs" any more "sexist" than "long legs" , or "gams" as they used to say in the '40s.. I wish MS would have just stood their ground and said enough is enough.. And a Patch? Really? is this intended to no longer offend any decompilers or crackers who may be "offended" ?
This only got discovered because its open source. Now, I realise why closed sauce Microsoft code is so bloated and cruddy. Its chock full of sexual references...
It was supposed to be hidden in the basement.
Which explains how a Linux programmer found it.
-
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
I like to play motorboat. Is that a freaking crime? I like playing with my wife's boobs, watching them bounce as we go at it.. I like motor boating. I also admire other boobs like works of art. there's tear drop shaped boobs, there small perky boobs, there's oh my god I am going to sufficate boobs, there are boobs that even belong to the itty bitty titty comittee.. and we all know what come with the tiny ones... one tight box. so... oh well. I like sex, get over it.
Hi Slashdot. Long time reader, first time poster.
Okay, the way I see it; If you're offended by something that you are exposed to, you can ASK for it to change or you can leave. Now what we are talking about here is a line of computer code. Who the hell gets EXPOSED to computer code? You have to go hunting for it, don't you?
One, there's only so many way's to put letters and numbers together. Making them memorable somehow is called a mnemonic. It is VERY freaking helpful! If you're going to be offended by how someone else chose to write a line of code, then maybe you should have been there in the first place to do it your way. If you missed the bus on that one then too bad.
Two, if you're going to get offended at the fact that something exists somewhere . . .kill yourself. I mean seriously, you're done for, anyway. There is porn out there. On the internet, the internet you're on right now. It's close, it's so close. It's not even in the next room, it's so close. You just have to search the word in google chrome and it's all there. Terrible, nasty, sexist, demeaning, horrible stuff! It exists. More is being made right now. And now. And now. If you're bothered by this then what do you do about it?
Don't watch porn. Don't look it up. Don't associate with people who watch it.
Ditto.
Your opinion or values have no more or less worth than my own. Or his own. . All we can do if we disagree is come to a compromise, or avoid each other (or avoid the issue). I don't like Brussels sprouts. I don't deal with this by trying to outlaw Brussels sprouts or raise a call to arms against their production. I especially don't buy Brussels sprouts or go research them and the people who approve of them online.
It is done. It exists. It personally amuses me and I'm sure if I ever have cause to dick around in Lynux code, I'll know what 0xB16B00B5 is for and it's exactly as sexist as a man being attracted to women rather than every-fuckin-person-he-meets-equally. It's a physical trait that exists in the world, some people approve, some disapprove and some have no feelings on the matter. Personal preference on a matter related to gender. If that's sexist, then I think we're pretty much all very actively sexist every day. However I think that's about as much sexism as getting in an argument with someone from another country means that our two countries are at war. In the most superficial, dumb'd down and senseless use of the word, it's true. But you know what? Not letting dudes into the women's change room seems equally as sexist to me. Also, the Poo'Boy sandwich; I'm offended. I've never seen a Downtrodden Lady Panini on a menu. And where I grew up there's a place called Scotsman's Hill where you can watch Rodeo events for free. I find that culturally insulting!. And I'm offended when shoe companies don't make a triple-wide model to fit my fat Canadian feet.
Yeah. Pick a more worthy battle. Big boobs exists, and they're awesome. Just awesome. And B16B00B5 is clever. I wouldn't have thought of it and I wish that I did.
seriously? this counts as news? holy smokes! talk about childish bullshit. nothing to see here, move along.
And yet they don't. I rarely meet female programmers, and most of the ones I have met coast along on the coat-tails of men. It is possible that this is simply because they can and does not prove any inability but it remains a fact that in my multi-decade experience there are very few female programmers worth their salt. There were two I remember who were outstanding. One of them was both freakishly talented as a software developer and stunningly attractive with athletic outdoor hobbies, which gives the lie to at least three stereotypes. That one was so unnervingly good at everything in a larger than life way that it put me in mind of Homer on the greek gods walking among men. I sometimes wonder what became of her.
State your gender, whether you'd be offended by seeing "BIGBOOBS" kernel code and whether you'd be offended by seeing "BIGDICKS" in kernel code.
I find this whole reaction quite ironic, given the phrase "big boobs" is synonymous with "big crybabies".
IMO anyone who is losing sleep or is otherwise concerned about this has way too much time on their hands. It is, perhaps, time to focus on the more important things in life. If this is offensive, it is because you have imagined it to be so, not because there is any offensive language. Would you have been offended if this number was in octal? (Probably, as you would have had to convert it to hex to use it!)
OMG a Microsoft employee with a sense of humour, what is the world coming to?
It could be referring to Steve Ballmer.
Seriously, I do not see what the problem here is since 0xB16B00B5 = 2976579765. They are BOTH numbers with different representations. Would using 2976579765 in the source have caused any similar uproar? A number is a number regardless of how it 'looks' in some representation. 32007 is also a number, that depending on what is being done, can be encountered, quite often in fact. (Hint: Write the number down on a piece of paper and look at it upside down.)
All I have to say is 0x0B16DEA1.
Oh man I'm so disappointed! I was looking forward to at least a full scene from 50 Shades of Grey. Total f*****g humour failure or what? If there was a lot more interesting stuff hidden in source code, perhaps more youngsters would be inspired to learn it.
Love without logic is insanity. And vice versa.
is how Bloatware comes about.... B16B4775 indeed...
It was referring to competency of Management, not mammaries. I think it should stay as is :-)
Microsoft is only sorry to the extent is that they got caught.
"010000100100100101000111001000000 1000010010011110100111101000010010100110000110100001010"
42494720424f4f4253
Excuse me, what is 71077345?
7LO77EAS... ??? Flotteas? Tloffeas? Tlotteas? Floffeas?
Yesterday I tried to balance the offense-scales by making a sexist remark intended to "offend men", or at least make fellow slashdotters laugh. [I'm a female computer-geek, and I don't care if there was a variable/constant/whatever with the implied name big boobs. Whatever. I've seen worse, and I have a sense of humor.] But either the post didn't take or I got modded down to the bit bucket, lol. Harrumph. Others are using the F-word all over the place... how did I get modded down to the bit bucket for D1CC1355??? Was it because I couldn't figure out how to make the 2nd C be a K? ;) I've seen someone use a "5" for the K in another post just today... Ok, let me fix my constant here: D1C51355. There.
But back to the question at hand, what the heck is 71077345?? Thank you :)