Tech News

Microsoft was scrambling left to fix a bizarre coding error today, after finding it quite a handful to correct a chunk of code titled "big boobs".

The spot was first mentioned by Linux developer Matthew Garrett on his blog last night, writing: "Paolo Bonzini noticed something a little awkward in the Linux kernel support code for Microsoft's HyperV virtualisation environment - specifically, that the magic constant passed through to the hypervisor was "0xB16B00B5", or, in English, "BIG BOOBS".

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

Bonzini, who discovered the "error", had let the cat out of the bag straight after its discovery, posting a message to the Linux Kernel mailing stating: "Somone (sic) was trying to be funny, I guess".

Having been alerted to the mistake, Microsoft went public on the issue, telling Network World: "We thank the community for reporting this issue and apologise for the offensive string." An update is already planned to amend it.

The bad publicity comes just one month after another accusation of sexism was levelled towards Microsoft, after the corporation gave a cringeworthy presentation to the Norwegian Developers Conference in Oslo that include penis-based innuendo, such as the line: "The words MICRO and SOFT don't apply to my penis." Yes, that actually happened...