Microsoft fixes 'big boobs' coding gaffe

So someone set 0xB16B00B5 as the guest ID in the hyper-v code in the Linux kernel, and some other people got offended and asked Microsoft to change it.<p>I don't see the problem, I don't know how someone could be offended because of this. And as Paule Bolle says [1], it can be changed without breaking anything.<p>The only serious thing that comes to mind about this is the MS Trustworthy Computing initiative, but I don't think it has anything to say here.<p>[1] <a href="https://lkml.org/lkml/2012/7/13/362" rel="nofollow">https://lkml.org/lkml/2012/7/13/362</a>

Dear god. Microsoft ought just chill. Anyone offended by a Hex string needs iCouch.me. It would be different if it were some Nazi slogan or some Al Sharpton quote. Either way, it's in Hex. Consider it a funny Easter egg. Let the nerds have some fun! After all, for some MS engineers, that's a close to big boobies as they'll ever get.

I find it funny that this is offensive to some people. I cringe that some of the silly names we have given internal code bits or projects might one day offend someone somewhere and need to have a formal apology. It's a good thing people can't get under the paint of their walls as it's common for construction workers to write notes and draw on unfinished sheetrock.

The mere fact that so many software developers don't see the big issue here is exactly the big issue.

&#62; His comments, and those on the Linux mailing list, have started a huge debate about whether use of the string was sexist and how male developers should conduct themselves.

Now lets go bash oracle/sun for using 0xcafebabe for the magic number in java class files.<p>No, please, get serious. Trying to find a hint of sexism in everything is almost as bad an offence as making sexist jokes where it's inappropriate.

Related: I just noticed the original answer to the "How to be a brogrammer" Quora question got pulled down. Brogrammer backlash has been swift. <a href="http://www.quora.com/Brogramming/How-does-a-programmer-become-a-Brogrammer" rel="nofollow">http://www.quora.com/Brogramming/How-does-a-programmer-becom...</a>

Is 0xcafebabe on the chopping block as well?

Worth repeating: Until it is proven that the coder who put that in was, in fact, a male it is highly sexist to just assume that it was a man and that ladies are not capable of being childish or being into big boobs as well. ;)