Microsoft Apologizes for Big Boobs

[somonels]

No artistic integrity or self-expression in Microsoft, it's in the Employment Contract.

 

[KDR_11k]

I have little to no idea about coding, but is this type of thing a coincidence? I'd imagine coding is coding and that one can't just willy-nilly go inserting words in leet speak into coding and have the final program come out correctly.

It's a common practice to initialize memory, registers, etc with easily identifiable numbers like 0xDEADBEEF or 0xC0FFEE or stuff like that so they stand out when you see them while analysing the system. If you see 0xDEADBEEF (or in this case 0xB16B00B5) in a memory address or register or whatnot that's supposed to hold data then you know it hasn't been properly filled with actual data and still contains the dummy value it got on reset/startup/whatever. With values like 00000000 it could be hard to tell if the memory is uninitialized or if it just got 00000000 written to it. 0xDEADBEEF is extremely unlikely to be the result of an actual calculation.

 

[Vegosiux]

Slow news day?

OR is it just that people need to get a damn backbone and stop screaming 'I'M A VICTIM BECAUSE I NOT A WHITE MALE IN AMERICA!'?

It's just a bit of pent-up frustration that they need to get off their chest.

Or maybe they just want to keep up abreast of things.

I'm finding it rather funny how this thread had some "white male privilege" things going for it; I mean...seriously, it's a string of code nobody but the nerds is ever going to seriously look at >.<

 

[Formica Archonis]

You know 0xB16B00B5 actually spells out 'ox big boobs' whatever that means.They're so big they're as big as an ox maybe?

The 0x is used to flag that the number is in hexadecimal. Essentially, it's used the same way "inches" and "feet" and "meters" and "blocks" and "minutes" and "miles" and "kilometers" are: To let someone know what unit is being used. Ask someone how far it is to the store and they say 15, you're no better off.

For instance, say someone tells me they need something from memory location 2163.

Is that decimal? Then it means decimal 2163.
Is it hexadecimal? Then it means decimal 8547.
Is that octal? Then it means decimal 1139.

Gets even more fun if the number is 10110.

Coders on some older systems like the C64 used a $ instead.

I have little to no idea about coding, but is this type of thing a coincidence? I'd imagine coding is coding and that one can't just willy-nilly go inserting words in leet speak into coding and have the final program come out correctly.

It's a "magic number". Completely arbitrary, most coders make them memorable so have an easier time tracking down bugs. You can't use 0 or 1 because a lot of math ends up at 0 or 1; you have to use something that's win-the-lottery likely of happening naturally. Some examples from Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_number_(programming)#Magic_debug_values]:


8BADF00D Used by Apple as the exception code in iOS crash reports when an application has taken too long to launch or terminate.
A5A5A5A5 Used in embedded development because the alternating bit pattern (10100101) creates an easily recognized pattern on oscilloscopes and logic analyzers.
ABADBABE Used by Apple as the "Boot Zero Block" magic number
BADBADBADBAD Burroughs large systems "uninitialized" memory (48-bit words)
BADC0FFEE0DDF00D Used on IBM RS/6000 64-bit systems to indicate uninitialized CPU registers

Most of them are chosen so as to be recognizable at a glance: Which is why A5A5A5A5 works anywhere where you're using a binary display, while the rest are semi-legible English.

 

[Ken Sapp]

Anyone with the time to get worked up over childish humor instead of shaking their heads at it needs to reevaluate their sensibilities and find something worthwhile to get offended at. Like say... warlords that steal aid supplies and funds meant for to relieve starvation int third world nations. Or real examples of chauvinism like the mentioned "feminist whore" reference in Dead Island. At least the feminist whore reference was something worth calling out the developer on.

 

[winds-ov-chaos]

This whole situation lately when so many people gets offended by something, which is only juvenile humour, is getting really silly. I think this clip should be appropriate

 

[Nate Corran]

There are some words that are funny both in and out of context. (in a 13 year old kinda way)In middle school, anyone would've laughed their ass off when they heard someone say balls, boobs, titties, or whatever. Is the humor juvenile? Duh. Is it misogynistic? No. Get the fuck over yourself.
Slightly off topic, but has anyone seen the Deadpool trailer? You know, where he says "We like videos with boobies!" and exclaims, "more bouncy!" while staring at a woman's ample chest? No. So shut the hell up and go pander your self righteousness somewhere else.

 

[Lt._nefarious]

I'm horribly offended by this... Guh.. I mean, replacing numbers with letters, where do they get off?

But seriously isn't it more demeaning for a bunch of old white guys to say "women must be offended by this small joke and thus we will patch it before they start crying and having periods"? Would it not prove shit is more equal if they just said "sorry but, y'know, it seemed funny at the time and it won't kill anyone"? I'm sure if they said something along those lines it would be a much smaller deal... I once met someone who's girlfriend was big into Bayonetta and a girl who loved the new Mortal Kombat which are both games where women were depicted as all having big breasts and being not very nice but these women just didn't give a fuck which has led me to the conclusion that these officials or people who make forums about objectifying women in games I'm sure most women don't care as much as you think they do about how you think Lara Crofts DD's are offensive...

[link]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amUEynCMPnM[/link] (<-- Loosely related thing kinda about eqaulity KennyvSpenny clip)

(Don't know how to embed soz)

 

[Formica Archonis]

I'm glad someone got a smackdown for this. Because there's one rule you MUST follow when doing high-profile corporate open source work: You don't commit ANYTHING you don't want to see in the paper the next day. You're a coder writing a hypervisor for fuck's sake, not a preschooler who just learned a new "dirty" word.

I've known too many coders with the mental development of a five year old. I'm glad to see one of them got caught at it and damaged his career. (Fairly badly, too. Ballmer's crackhead employee ranking scheme means every department head needs a fall guy for almost every employee evaluation cycle. Guess who just volunteered for the pits of a 2.5/4 rank on the next one?)

 

[cobra_ky]

Jesus Christ, sometimes I don't know why I even bother with this site anymore.

Two whole pages of people whining about feminism and how overblown this story is.

0 actual feminists taking exception.

Well, let me be the first then. Yes, it's sexist. Yes, it reinforces a negative perception of the software development industry. Yes, Microsoft is doing the right thing by apologizing and patching it out.

Story over, situation resolved, let's move on.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Who the flying ferret fantastical fuck[footnote]Thanks Daystar[/footnote] gives a shit?

i have to say, both 'this' and, I'm stealing that for my own usage

 

[Carnagath]

Soon you won't even be able to take a deep breath without OFFENDING SOMEONE, let me tell ya.

 

[Spartan212]

Is the word "snigger" that he used in the article even a word? I've never heard it and it kinda popped out at me while reading

 

[GundamSentinel]

Aww damn, spoiler that thing! How offensive!

...

Seriously though, my reaction to this is . . .

0xB16D3A1

You avatar perfectly illustrates my reaction to this. People actually have a problem with this?

 

[Dany]

They shouldn't even have to apologize for this.

Screw society.

 

[SpectacularWebHead]

Speaking as someone with a large rack, doesn't the world have bigger issues?

I see what you did there.

It's political correctness gone mad!

As I say this, I am aware of the fact there is probably a few uber feminazi's that would have gone to war over this little debacle. Or in their minds, this B16 debacle.