MS Bookshelf Symbol 7 Update
Today, Windows XP automatic updates service greeted me with two new updates waiting to be downloaded. One was another of those serious enough to allow a remote attacker to completely take over and wreck your computer, the other was about a font! A font? It says that the Bookshelf Symbol 7 font that is included in MS Office 2003 “has been found to contain unacceptable symbols”. Well, that’s some interesting stuff…
So I fired up the symbol browser included with Office (from Word, Insert -> Symbol), selected the font and took a screenshot. Then I proceeded with the update, rebooted the machine, and did the same thing again. Voila! 3 symbols have been removed - 2 Swastika’s and a six-pointed star.
Here’s the old font:
and here’s the new one:
I began googling around for it and found some references to the Swastika being removed in this update, see this post on J-Walk Blog.
What’s more interesting is that no one ever mentioned the Star, it’s not even in Microsoft’s press release.
The six-pointed star or Hexagram, is called the Star of David in some religious context (Jewish?). Some Christians believe that it is the Mark of the Beast in the Revelation. Some reading here too.
May 26th, 2004 at 2:04 pm
You could also check out this article from PC Magazine about MS reactions various. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/ZDM/swastika_font_pcmag_040217.html
June 15th, 2004 at 6:02 am
Yeah that’s what i thought too.. Huh a font?!
The hexagram is a the star of david, and it is used to symbolize the Jues, it’s used by themselfs too, so it’s not an offening symbol. But together with the Swastika it is offending. It took quite a while to download the new font..
greets
July 17th, 2004 at 4:48 pm
The six sided star is not genrally considered to be the mark of the beast. The 5 pointed star upside down is what is considered by some to be the mark of the beast.
July 20th, 2004 at 4:05 am
crazy MS, who decided to take these symbols out? It’s political correctness gone mad! I can understand removing the swastika, but the Star if David’s removale is disgraceful. How long before MS office stops you typing words like LINUX or Apple Mac? You could argue that the heart should be removed as the origins of its shape is not based on the heart at all, but something quite different (female related).
August 13th, 2004 at 9:50 am
How rediculoous has this become. What I can not understand is why the Jews are crying so much. We can clearly see they are trouble makers and a cruel bunch at that. Now they are offended but these stupid symbols in this font. Oh come on. The reason the Jews are picked on is because they are whinny people. If we are not religious, why the hell should we put up with all this religious BS. That is all we hear. When is enough enough. Screw religion - It is some myth that just causes trouble. Can’t Microsock do something about this instead?
August 14th, 2004 at 8:54 am
Microsoft blew one, and tried to fix it. That part I can understand. What bothers me is your boy Cornrow. “We can clearly see they are trouble makers and a cruel bunch at that.” “The reason the Jews are picked on is because they are whinny people.” I didn’t know that neo-nazis were smart enough to use computers. Well, at least his writing skills are about as strong as you’d expect.
August 15th, 2004 at 1:25 am
August 15th, 2004 at 1:28 am
You are great!
August 16th, 2004 at 3:35 pm
You would think you would have more things to worry about than symbols. Bah!
September 20th, 2004 at 8:42 am
What Cornrow Wallace is true. I’m from a land in the north and we can’t even say words like jew without beeing arrested. If u don’t like th jew here, u’re a criminal becouse u’re not political correct.
By doing this i think they should allow christians to shout out tha they don’t want the jewish star toghter with a christian cross. But only the jewish people have the power to do stuff like this. The swastika was there for a reason, it was a symbol for buddha temples! Not becouse MS is national socialist.
October 21st, 2004 at 10:25 pm
November 30th, 2004 at 9:15 pm
i think that this font should be allowed and i am wondering where abouts i can download it? do you have any information for me?
December 7th, 2004 at 9:15 am
Yeah! Jew suckz!
I’m Lookin for the font that is show in the banned Donald Duck Chapters when Donald dream as he is a Nazi.
I’m looking for a nazi font. I have it about 7 typographics but isn’t it that I’m looking for…
Send me INFO to my mail please…
February 17th, 2005 at 10:36 am
The original swastika is a reverse of the Nazi symbol and is a symbol of Good luck and propserity in both Hindu and Buddhist religions, dating to 5000 years ago. The Nazi’s stole the symbol, reversed it and also perverted the meaning of this ancient symbol.
March 4th, 2005 at 12:23 pm
You have it wrong. Jews are not crying to have the “Star of David” removed. I’m Jewish and don’t want any symbol removed from my fonts. If a symbol is objectionable, I won’t use it. If you want access to Nazi symbols, great. I encourage you to use lots of Nazi symbols in everything you write. That way it is so much easier for me to spot who is a moron.
March 4th, 2005 at 12:38 pm
Amazing how screwed up some people are… Poor world! So many extremists! Just when I thought that we have enough problems with dictators, terrorists, nuclear threats, global warming, etc, along comes yet another problem… un-educated Nazi white-supremists trying to create more strife! Can’t we all just get along and prosper?
March 24th, 2005 at 5:42 pm
I wanna have the Bookshelf Symbol 7 font…
don’t update
June 24th, 2005 at 8:06 am
You can get the original font off the office CD. Just search on the CD for *.CAB containing text: bssym7.ttf. It might take a while. When it’s done, open the CAB file in WinZip and extract bssym7.ttf. Then go to C:\Windows\Fonts and delete Bookshelf Symbol 7, then drag bssym7.ttf into the Fonts folder and click “Yes” to the dialog.
August 16th, 2005 at 10:52 pm
Look up “Manzi” you morons. I swear, the west either thinks the sun rises and sets in its ass, or that somehow their cultures were the only ones to develope 4, 5, and 6 pointed objects.
September 8th, 2006 at 3:11 am
testing