本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Redmond, Beijing Lay Subversion Flap to Rest
by Gene Kaprowski
6:54 a.m. Jan. 25, 1997 PST
Microsoft Corp. has quietly resolved its much-publicized conflict with China over what the latter deemed secret, "subversive" code in the Chinese version of Windows 95, a company spokesman in Beijing said. Although no announcement was made, Wired News has learned that the parties resumed working relations within a month or two of the breach.
公司在北京的发言人宣布：微软悄悄地解决了和中国的矛盾，关于最近发现的秘密——在中文版WIN95中有“颠覆性”代码。尽管没有宣布，但双方已经在一两个月的分歧之后恢复了合作关系。
The problem occurred last September, when the Communist government banned the sale of Win95 in China, complaining about phrases - like the Taiwanese epithet gongfei, or "communist bandits," and duli, or "Taiwanese independence" - embedded in the code of the operating system software. Taiwanese programmers, hired by Microsoft to modify the OS for Chinese-language users, surreptitiously inserted the phrases into the software as a political statement. Taiwan considers itself independent from China, but Beijing calls the country a "renegade province." Any statements undermining that ideology are considered subversive by the government.
事情发生在去年九月（1996年9月——译者注），当共产党政府禁止了WIN95的销售，抱怨里面有反动词句，比如台湾话“共匪”、“台独”。这些词句在操作系统的代码里面。由微软雇佣的台湾籍程序员在汉化操作系统时，偷偷地把这些词句加入作为政治声明。………
"Microsoft moved quickly as soon as the government said the operating system, SC Windows 95, contained subversive phrases," says Du Jiabing, a Microsoft spokesman in Beijing. Microsoft removed the offending software from the market, and shipped free copies of the OS to Chinese users, sans the political language, and the Redmond-based company is "again selling the product," says the spokesman.
微软闻讯立即行动，从市场上收回软件，向客户免费更换新的版本，消除政治性语言。
Mel Stuckey, CEO of Fourth Shift, a manufacturing software partner with Microsoft in China, downplays the entire episode. "Generally speaking, the topic of the Chinese government taking issue with Microsoft during its launch of Windows 95 received far more attention outside the country than within China," Stuckey tells Wired News. "Microsoft took prompt corrective action with the outside contractors they used, and the problem quickly dissipated."
Redmond's response points to tensions inherent in other large corporations' relations with China. Says Stuckey, "The Chinese have a concern about any outside company that controls a major portion of the market."
But Kevin Baerson, editor of High Performance Computing and Communications Week, an industry trade journal, believes that as long as China remains Communist, it will never be free from the political pranks of computer programmers. "Programmers are highly educated people, and they work in an environment that is based on merit, a democracy of merit," he says. "I wouldn't be surprised if someone else in the future put another message to Beijing inside some software, and made another political statement about freedom."更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
by Gene Kaprowski
6:54 a.m. Jan. 25, 1997 PST
Microsoft Corp. has quietly resolved its much-publicized conflict with China over what the latter deemed secret, "subversive" code in the Chinese version of Windows 95, a company spokesman in Beijing said. Although no announcement was made, Wired News has learned that the parties resumed working relations within a month or two of the breach.
公司在北京的发言人宣布：微软悄悄地解决了和中国的矛盾，关于最近发现的秘密——在中文版WIN95中有“颠覆性”代码。尽管没有宣布，但双方已经在一两个月的分歧之后恢复了合作关系。
The problem occurred last September, when the Communist government banned the sale of Win95 in China, complaining about phrases - like the Taiwanese epithet gongfei, or "communist bandits," and duli, or "Taiwanese independence" - embedded in the code of the operating system software. Taiwanese programmers, hired by Microsoft to modify the OS for Chinese-language users, surreptitiously inserted the phrases into the software as a political statement. Taiwan considers itself independent from China, but Beijing calls the country a "renegade province." Any statements undermining that ideology are considered subversive by the government.
事情发生在去年九月（1996年9月——译者注），当共产党政府禁止了WIN95的销售，抱怨里面有反动词句，比如台湾话“共匪”、“台独”。这些词句在操作系统的代码里面。由微软雇佣的台湾籍程序员在汉化操作系统时，偷偷地把这些词句加入作为政治声明。………
"Microsoft moved quickly as soon as the government said the operating system, SC Windows 95, contained subversive phrases," says Du Jiabing, a Microsoft spokesman in Beijing. Microsoft removed the offending software from the market, and shipped free copies of the OS to Chinese users, sans the political language, and the Redmond-based company is "again selling the product," says the spokesman.
微软闻讯立即行动，从市场上收回软件，向客户免费更换新的版本，消除政治性语言。
Mel Stuckey, CEO of Fourth Shift, a manufacturing software partner with Microsoft in China, downplays the entire episode. "Generally speaking, the topic of the Chinese government taking issue with Microsoft during its launch of Windows 95 received far more attention outside the country than within China," Stuckey tells Wired News. "Microsoft took prompt corrective action with the outside contractors they used, and the problem quickly dissipated."
Redmond's response points to tensions inherent in other large corporations' relations with China. Says Stuckey, "The Chinese have a concern about any outside company that controls a major portion of the market."
But Kevin Baerson, editor of High Performance Computing and Communications Week, an industry trade journal, believes that as long as China remains Communist, it will never be free from the political pranks of computer programmers. "Programmers are highly educated people, and they work in an environment that is based on merit, a democracy of merit," he says. "I wouldn't be surprised if someone else in the future put another message to Beijing inside some software, and made another political statement about freedom."更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net