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The devil is in the details

2 comments on The devil is in the details

The devil is in the details
: Microsoft has an oops:

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday that its latest version of Office software inadvertently contained a font featuring two swastikas, and said it would offer tools to remove and replace the offending characters from the program.

The swastika, which was made infamous by Nazi Germany, was included in Microsoft’s “Bookshelf Symbol 7” font. That font was derived from a Japanese font set, said Microsoft Office product manager Simon Marks.

“It was discovered by one of our customers a couple weeks ago,” Marks said, adding that there was “no indication of malicious intent.”

2 responses to “The devil is in the details”

  1. Mike G Avatar
    Mike G

    And Noam Chomsky says there’s no anti-semitism in the West!

  2. Kurt Avatar
    Kurt

    If it was from a Japanese font set, it probably had nothing to do with Nazis. Look on any detailed Japanese city map and you will see swastikas all over the place; it’s an ancient symbol for Buddhist temples. The Japanese swastika is a mirror image of the Nazi swastika with the central axis straight up and down instead of at a 45 degree angle. They look a lot alike, but the difference is obvious. The same gripe was heard a few years ago over some Japanese “pokemon” cards on which the character’s costume featured a Buddhist swastika. Everybody in America thought the manufacturers were a bunch of secret Nazis.