"We thank the community for reporting this issue and apologise for the offensive string," it said to Network World.

I'm confused, who exactly is Microsoft apologizing to?

It's a depressing reflection of society when political correctoids resort to wading through computer code to find offense in ambiguous letter and number formations. What prize tits they are!

"Puerile sniggering at breasts contributes to the continuing impression that software development is a boys' club where girls aren't welcome," Dr Garrett wrote.

What a good doggy! You're now eligible for a complimentary pat on the head and doggy treat from the sisterhood.

I work in the software industry

I will go into work tomorrow morning and find 20 examples of something that looks like "big penises" in our code. Some of it will be compiled code, some of it source code. Some of it I'll read using an ANSI codepage, some an ISO codepage. I'll write a program to read every single one of the 20 terabytes of information we have on our system, and I'll keep going until I find something that looks vaguely like "big penises", and I'll tell the BBC about it.

And they will do absolutely nothing.

What a load of shite.

This is exactly what I was thinking as I read this thread.. I've played with Hexadecimal before as well as other languages. The amount of potential things you can see when encoded in different flavours is just silly to pretend that someone put code in that appears as a specific word would be counter productive anyway.

Back in ye old days, silly pranks like this were done in easy to find locations and usually involved something "Marx was 'ere" coded in plain text ASCII.

I'm gonna look out for B16BA115 now and cry if I happen upon it.


ETA:
Found it.
rulus - hashsum hash sum summe hashsumme tool

b16ba115 053101b2 fc4584edab785a8edec134b8df358473cb91fcb1 aa51cc1a77a57a0afa8b186b3da75213 2447ef322c93e0e71000a2daad7f71a4 f55c528c1566fc8843453d9e37c49827 81ffad6e1d7915eaba7b339bc63dc798ec69492c f9b05d0c92864fb081ae213ef25aa9c7eef08f5eafa0336701 5205d1 fb121cad84711b0c1b09f73386f1cb3bea05a8e6dce4adeeab fe55a63edffe21 b0cbef499aeb80ceef9ead59a3ebc2b713e3d2824970c42246 09365c82ce51379cfbccac24966c449ca1213c6de39654 8e59c446eb503aec7b408fb32a37da8a2bb75988706bb05a5a 619b498ba21d88cea5c90ba1c21d4e4a1b965d1804b628e365 a6363b08fcec0130e9932d5c4e58
j9y6_

Well that's it - I'm gonna cry now and demand an apology from Rulus Software.

Newsflash: I have found a text string that says "B16BA115" on a website called "www.antimisandry.com". Apparently someone called "Marx" posted it.

This is fundamental evidence of misandry on behalf of the poster who calls himself "Marx".

I demand that the site be shut down, and that this "Marx" be prosecuted for crimes against men!

I cannot believe that this made the news!

Just to put it into context, THIS 3 minute commercial is currently airing on Australian TV:

LINK: Lynx Effect Australia - YouTube

And a response to get your blood boiling:

]Rehashing a single double entendre for 180 seconds would be a feat in itself for some people. But not everyone sees the funny side. Collective Shout, a lobby group that campaigns against the sexualisation of advertising, has put in a complaint to the Advertising Standards Bureau.

Tankard Reist, co-founder of Collective Shout said that "objectifying women" in these "hyper-sexualised scenes" is actually harmful, adding: "They contribute to an ongoing second-class status of women."

Read more: Lynx 'clean your balls' advert causes controversy Down Under| News | The Week UK

Quote from Oneinthree

Newsflash: I have found a text string that says "B16BA115" on a website called "www.antimisandry.com". Apparently someone called "Marx" posted it.

This is fundamental evidence of misandry on behalf of the poster who calls himself "Marx".

I demand that the site be shut down, and that this "Marx" be prosecuted for crimes against men!

LOL!

"Puerile sniggering at breasts contributes to the continuing impression that software development is a boys' club where girls aren't welcome,"

It is.

I didn;t follow the link cause feminazi isn't real today. To be honest with you, I don't know of any female nazi women.

Quote from MrWombat

It is.

What is? I'm confused? Software development is a boys' club? Sniggering at breasts is puerile?

I'm inclined to agree with both but is there a connection?

Software development (as far as I know) requires considerable imagination and logic. Does that exempt a man from being labelled as a 'sniggering at breasts' nerd?

Software developers and breasts are both admirable pursuits.

To applaud the former would need some 'tech-talk'. To acknowledge the latter we'd have to go into "Felix-mode" and he probably does it more colourfully!

Microsoft 'Big Boobs' gaffe points to wider industry problems for women in tech | ZDNet and it spreads...

Cavemen spent more time on housework than out hunting - Mirror Online

something else for them to moan about

What a larf...!

I recall a Discovery Channel documentary called "Meet the Natives" - about a tribe in New Guinea or somewhere similar.

A heavy-bosomed wife is moaning. "When he's not hunting, he's gossiping with the other men about tribe decisions, while I keep working....I don't know why I love him."

He grins at the camera and says, "I do!"

Quote from BBC

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.

Was this debate about how MALE developers should conduct themselves started before or after it was determined that it was a MALE developer who wrote the 'offending' code? Most Microsoft software teams I have been in touch with have women on them and there is no reason to think that women are not at least as likely to create a string such as "0xB16B00B5."

Oh, wait, males are involved somewhere so it HAS to be a man's fault, doesn't it?

I wouldn't have noticed. But then again, I'm not someone who has too much time on their hands...