I loaded Office 2003 on my home PC over the weekend, and it was followed immediately by a “Critical Update” notice from Microsoft.
The notice said that the suggested patch addresses the Bookshelf Symbol 7 font, stating: “this font has been found to contain unacceptable symbols.”
Of course, I had to check it out.
Under the original version of Bookshelf Symbol 7 the tilde produces a swastika and an upper-case T produces a Star of David. Microsoft decided to delete them both from the font.
This article from ABC News says there were two swastikas in the font, but I only found one. This article from The Memory Hole has some captures of before-and-afters.
I understand Microsoft’s sensitivity to this issue, but does this qualify as a “critical” update? I’m just glad I’m not the guy deploying the now-weekly “critical updates” for Win2K and XP in a large corporate environment– it’s hard enough staying ahead of the holes the hackers discover without having Microsoft sending stuff your way that should be categorized as “highly recommended.”
And besides, if they’re going to make font updates they should take steps towards adding my new favorite character, the interrobang.