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Rewriting History… Electronically
By Kilen Matthews (email: kmpcw@y2kegypt.com)
for PC World Egypt - July 1998

Microsoft may not rule the world. Yet. But they sell and distribute the most successful and - by far - widely used PC operating system: the Windows family (3.1, 95 and NT). Of course, Microsoft sells not only Windows but also the nearly as ubiquitous Office suite (with Word and Excel) along with personal financial management software, games, entertainment and educational software including the MS Encyclopedia Encarta, read by millions worldwide.

With tens of millions of Microsoft users out there you really don't have to go far to find evidence of a love-hate view of Microsoft. Many of us can't function professionally without our computers using some of the Microsoft software products. But the various releases of MS Windows and Explorer and many other Microsoft products have had a list of glitches that have frustrated and confounded users.

In fact, no large system is completely bug free. If the software packages didn't work well enough, they wouldn't sell. So 100 per cent performance accuracy isn't practically attainable for any large software system, and it never will be.

But what about data, facts, history? Microsoft, on it's web site and in many of it's products, sells information. And how does Microsoft act when you give them a red "X" and tell them - politely - to go back and get their facts straight. Well, in at least one case, it is a demonstration of quick, professional and satisfactory action.

One local businessman, Mohamed El-Nawawy, Managing Director and co-founder of InTouch Communications Services, S.A.E., made a presentation at the Cairo Internet Conference (CAINET '98) held this past March at the Marriott Hotel about educational systems. At the end of his presentation, he related his personal story of checking up on Microsoft's accuracy.

Many of us Information Technology (IT) consultants find ourselves in the position Nawawy has within his extended family. He is the "computer guy". That often means he is the resource the family relies on to explain the video remote control, assemble stereo systems and install new computers for the in-laws. We "computer people" may roll our eyes a bit and act like it is a nuisance to have to explain why your modem won't work if you plug in the cables the wrong way. Or we'll groan when we get another call at 9:00 p.m. when someone thinks they have a software virus, but actually we love it. We love to see people step past their risk zone with technology when they can successfully use it.

Last December, Nawawy was setting up a new PC for his father-in-law. The installation went smoothly, the PC was up and humming away and they were exploring the nice multimedia "sound and light" shows available from modern desktop computers. The PC included a copy of the MS Encyclopedia "Encarta" and as they scanned the history of Egypt, a "fact" on the screen appeared which disturbed them. Here was a best selling PC based Encyclopedia telling them, and everyone in their family that Egypt had lost the 1973 war. They decided they would alert Microsoft, starting with the local office in Cairo and see if a correction could be made.

Here is part of the text of the e-mail Nawawy sent to Mr. Ali El-Faramawy, of Microsoft Egypt

" … in the article "Egypt", in Encarta, under the "Egypt Fact Box" section, under the "History" sub-section, you find a listing of "important dates" that spans Egyptian history from 3100 BC till 1996 AD. Next to every Year-date is a short remark saying what was significant about this particular year. For example, next to the Year-date 1970, Encarta lists "Nasser died and was succeeded by Anwar el-Sadat".

What shocked me was, that Encarta specified that in the Year-Date 1973 the ONLY significant issue that happened was "Egypt fought Israel and was defeated in the Yom Kippur War."

 There it was. This is what the MS Encyclopedia presented to the world as history. History is certainly the interpretation of facts and we can't expect everyone's interpretation - nor opinion -to be the same. But this view, of the war in 1973 being summarized in one sentence as "Egypt lost" was not acceptable to Nawawy, and he made his case for a change in Microsoft Encarta's view of history in the e-mail:

" Please note:

As we know it, and as history records, the fact of the 1973 war is different. Egypt celebrates the 6th of October 1973 as the date of its victory, as we crossed the canal and liberated Sinai from Israel. History also records this date to be the one where major Israeli army officers were arrested by Egyptian military. Other electronic/paper Encyclopedia's which I studied before writing this confirm (this) …

All references agree that (a) Egypt gained massively by re-gaining control of the two-canal banks; (b) that event of Oct-97 is by all means a victory for Egypt over Israel.

 Nawawy has a young daughter and is active in trying to bring the culture and history of Egypt and the region in a form for the youngest members of society to enjoy. A quote from his email to Microsoft Egypt on the issue sums up … "Encarta is now used by my daughter as she scans through the videos and sees the wonders of the world in motion. Soon, she will read what Encarta says about the 6th October 1973 war. Mr. Faramawy escalated the issue to Mr. Gary Alt, an Editor-in-Chief at Microsoft, who stated, in his email response, "I received a copy of your email concerning the fact box in the Egypt article in Encarta Encyclopedia. After looking at the fact-box entry in question, we agree that the statement does not explain the complexity of the outcome of the 1973 war. Therefore, we are revising this fact-box entry in an upcoming edition, removing any reference to Egypt having been defeated in the war. Now the newest version of Encarta reflects - to the world - an updated history. The history books, or in this case, the history CD-ROMs can be re-written. And kudos to Microsoft for a quick resolution in response to a fault found by one of their (millions of) customers.