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Microsoft Swastika Overdrive
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Microsoft have released (admittedly a fortnight ago) an update to Bookshelf Symbol 7, a font included in Office 2003, for including two instances of the swastika. It’s labeled Q833407, after the MS Knowledge Base article giving (virtually no) extra information on the update, it’s marked “critical”—the same level of urgency imparted upon recent Windows security updates, such as those for the ASN.1 vuln and an IE update bundle—and was merrily picked upon by el reg.

Let’s be ignorant that the swastika was around for centuries before the Nazi party hijacked it, the interesting bits are the facts that both swastika instances are right-facing ones, and also that they think it’s critical. If you’re not offended, and I’ll wager most Office 2003 customers won’t even know the font exists, never mind be offended by it, where’s the criticality? I could understand if there were some way to gain privilege escalation through use of the font—$deity knows there’s enough ways to do that in a vanilla Windows install these days—but it’s just a marketing snafu. “Eeeek, Nazi symbols in our fonts, the Jews will have a field day,” I can imagine them shrieking in some Microsoft PR dungeon … but if you read the reg article, you’ll note that the Star of David vanished from the same font at the same time …

I mentioned that the swastikas were right-facing. Note from the wikipedia entry I linked to, one of the primary users of the swastika—Buddhism—uses mainly left-hand facing ones these days. Weird that Microsoft didn’t include them, eh?

How do you spell ‘snafu’ in Bookshelf Symbol 7?

  1. I find it all quite funny really. I mean I dont wish anyone to be offended but you have to look at the funny side! 🙂

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