[xico]

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Pixel this - and computer giant loses millions
August 20, 2004

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London: A tiny shading error in a computer program involved Microsoft in a multi-million dollar business fiasco, the head of the firm's geopolitical strategy unit has disclosed.

Tom Edwards told the International Geographical Union congress in Glasgow how erroneously colouring eight out of 800,000 pixels dark rather than light green to represent Kashmir's disputed territory as non-Indian in Windows 95's time zone feature had led to the product being banned in India.

The Kashmir example was just one of a series of embarrassing mistakes that Mr Edwards owned up to on behalf of Microsoft programmers.

Others offended by the corporation in similar computer errors in recent years include the Saudi Arabian and Turkish governments, the Kurds and Chinese, women in several Latin American countries and computer game-playing Muslims.

Mr Edwards made his confession as part of a presentation on why multi-national corporations must become more geographically literate to win customers' trust.


He said: "The geographical illiteracy of a lot of Americans is well known. When you take that illiteracy and put it into products that are distributed globally, the results can be very serious."

Saudi Arabia's Government complained over the accidental use of Koranic chanting as the soundtrack for a scene of Kakuto Chojin, a fighting game released by Microsoft in November 2002.

Mr Edward recommended that 75,000 copies of the game be destroyed after a Muslim linguist he consulted "went ballistic".

The original Encarta 95 Encyclopaedia had a map of Turkey that included the label Kurdistan, an area the Kurds claim as their own. The Turks were offended and Microsoft distributors there were arrested.

The company removed the reference to Kurdistan - which led to protests from its less lucrative Kurdish market.

The Telegraph, London

[WarC]

Very interesting Xico!!

[LANMaster]

Yah, that's right, we Americans are all illiterate retards.

[Stoner]

Guess they just couldn't take a joke

[Wino]

Originally Posted by LANMaster

Yah, that's right, we Americans are all illiterate retards.

No, just your president and 50% +/- of the population!

[xico]

Despite the fact that we seem to be ubiquitous, we're not paying attention to our surroundings in other cultures. How many US citizens speak more than one language? How many more than two? How many Euopeans speak more than one, how many more than two?
When you visit another country and speak the language, it's amazing how friendly the people will be--unless of course the Administration is busy bombing people somewhere.

[flyeater]

we're not paying attention to our surroundings in other cultures.

Huh? Do you think the average Ugandan is concerned with offending American sensibilities? Would Iran consider a house of worship a sacred site thus avoiding conflict there?
Europeans are different culturally due to their close proximity to one another. Don't forget how much bigger the US is. I can travel thousands of miles in many directions and the language of choice would still be English. That is the primary reason many Europeans speak multiple languages. I do think children should be taught different languages at a much earlier age than they are now. Unfortunately the cost of such programs doom it. IMHO it's not a question of sensitivity or culture but an intelligent way to make our kids better to handle a global economy.

[xico]

I do think children should be taught different languages at a much earlier age than they are now. Unfortunately the cost of such programs doom it. IMHO it's not a question of sensitivity or culture but an intelligent way to make our kids better to handle a global economy.

Hi Flyeater!

I agree that the Europeans almost have to have multiple languages because their world is so much smaller; but our world has been shrinking too. I'm not quite sure why, but our language programs in the universities leave much to be desired. The military language schools, on the other hands, are quite effective. I knew a young woman who studied Spanish for 4 years, and couldn't speak it; after graduation she went to live in Greece, and within 6 months she was fluent. The military is serious about its students learning a language; the universities are not. Why? I don't know. IMHO its probably related to language being an add on to give the appearance that one had a "well rounded" education.
Deepak Chopra, MD, tells the story about the President of the Sony Corporation, working with the pregnant workers (and the pregnant wives of the workers) in a program where they took videos of the fetus. While the women were doing primal chanting, the fetus was grinning. When a woman so much as thought of having a cigarette the fetus would grimace. They gave names to the fetuses, and when they were born they responded to their names! They also taught the fetuses three languages, and after they were born they said their progress in the languages was phenomenal!

This is just to say that if we allocated some of the billions that we spend on weapons to education we could turn the world into a paradise--but, of course, when people learn new ways of doing things, they would demand change. The people in power are not interested in change. In fact, change is seen as "dangerous." And in a way it is . . . very dangerous. An idea could change your life.

[flyeater]

Me thinks that's a bit to early.

[xico]

Originally Posted by flyeater

Me thinks that's a bit to early.

No doubt! But the possibilites are limitless if that's what we really want.