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How eight pixels cost Microsoft millions

2004.08.19 – 3:11 pm PDT

By Jo Best
Special to CNET News.com

Microsoft’s lack of multicultural savvy cost the Redmond behemoth millions of dollars, according to a company executive.

The software giant has seen its products banned in some of the biggest markets on earth–and it’s all because of eight wrongly colored pixels, a dodgy choice of music and a bad English-to-Spanish dictionary.

Speaking at the International Geographical Union congress in Glasgow on Wednesday, Microsoft’s top man in its geopolitical strategy team, Tom Edwards, revealed how one of the biggest companies in the world managed to offend one of the biggest countries in the world with a software slip-up. When coloring in 800,000 pixels on a map of India, Microsoft colored eight of them a different shade of green to represent the disputed Kashmiri territory. The difference in greens meant Kashmir was shown as non-Indian, and the product was promptly banned in India. Microsoft was left to recall all 200,000 copies of the offending Windows 95 operating system software to try and heal the diplomatic wounds. “It cost millions,” Edwards said. Another social blunder from Microsoft saw chanting of the Koran used as a soundtrack for a computer game and led to great offence to the Saudi Arabia government. The company later issued a new version of the game without the chanting, while keeping the previous editions in circulation because U.S. staff thought the slip wouldn’t be spotted, but the Saudi government banned the game and demanded an apology. Microsoft then withdrew the game. The software giant managed to further offend the Saudis by creating another game in which Muslim warriors turned churches into mosques. That game was also withdrawn. Microsoft has also managed to upset women and entire countries. A Spanish-language version of Windows XP, destined for Latin American markets, asked users to select their gender between “not specified,” “male” or “bitch,” because of an unfortunate error in translation. Microsoft has also seen its unfortunate style of diplomacy have an effect in Korea, Kurdistan, Uruguay and to China–where a cartographical dispute saw Chinese employees hauled in front of the government. Edwards said that staff members are now sent on geography courses to try to avoid such mishaps. “Some of our employees, however bright they may be, have only a hazy idea about the rest of the world,” he said.

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Microsoft pays to end Lindows suits

2004.07.19 – 2:22 pm PDT

By David Becker
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Microsoft will pay upstart Linux seller Lindows $20 million to settle a long-running trademark dispute, according to a regulatory document filed Monday.

In exchange for the payment, Lindows–which recently renamed most of its products “Linspire” to work around European trademark suits–will give up the Lindows name and assign related Web domains to Microsoft, according to the registration statement Lindows filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“We are pleased to resolve this litigation on terms that make business sense for all parties,” Lindows CEO Michael Robertson said in a statement. “Over the next few months, Lindows will cease using the term Lindows and transition to Linspire globally as our company name and primary identifier for our operating system product.”

Tom Burt, vice president and deputy general counsel for Microsoft, said in the statement that agreement meets Microsoft’s goals for protecting the Windows name. “We are pleased that Lindows will now compete in the marketplace with a name distinctly its own,” he said.

Microsoft sued Lindows shortly after company founder Michael Robertson came out with a version of the Linux operating system outfitted with a user interface intended to mimic the look and feel of Microsoft’s dominant Windows. The software giant contended the Lindows name infringed on its Windows trademark, while Robertson claimed the trademark was invalid because “window” was a generic computing term long before Microsoft claimed it.

The U.S. trademark case has dragged on for more than two years, with the court refusing to impose an injunction on Lindows and ruling in the company’s favor on several other matters.

Microsoft has been more successful expanding the case overseas, winning injunctions from several European courts and forcing Lindows to adopt the Linspire name for most of its products.

Lindows will complete the transition under the terms of the settlement, which the companies agreed to Friday, according to the SEC filing. The deal calls for the company to permanently change its corporate name and drop all “Lindows” references from its products by Sept. 14. Lindows will also drop any petitions for trademark protection for the name, along with abandoning any legal cases based on the name.

The settlement also covers Windows Media components included in early versions of the Lindows OS. Lindows agreed to drop disputed files from its software in exchange for a limited four-year, royalty-free license to “certain Windows Media software components.”

The SEC filing also revealed terms for Lindows’ planned initial public offering, with the company set to offer 4.4 million shares at a price $9 to $11 per share.

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