(I've asked Microsoft for comment; I'll update this post if and when it responds.)

In other words, the culprit was , but the usual Microsoft chuckle-headedness. The good folks in Redmond may, of course, have a different explanation.

[UPDATE: Microsoft did ultimately get back to me, via one of its not-to-be-named spokesminions. Their reaction? "No comment." Gee, that was illuminating. Thanks guys.]

I asked Cringesters to nominate comparable screwups by major companies. Naturally, they came up with some doozies: the Bhopal chemical spill (Union Carbide), (Hooker Chemical), the Exxon Valdez oil spill, exploding Ford Pintos, decades of lying by tobacco companies, and countless more.

As reader G. M. (no relation to the car company) writes: