Photographs credit: “gnell” / Flickr.com
However the money isn’t going towards the Mozilla Corporation. Instead, it’s gone towards an equal if not better cause, the Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center. As it happens, Microsoft China has sponsored a pair of Red Pandas, otherwise affectionately known as the “Firefox”, and named them in true sponsorship spirit “Microsoft” and “Unlimited Potential” respectively.
One of these little guys is facing an identity crisis. A subtle joke? Perhaps. But generous nevertheless. 
P.S.: Here’s a video of these cute little buggers in action at the park. Obligatory “Om Nom Nom Nom”.
Update 2: Similarly to English, “Microsoft” in Chinese is literally translated as “very soft”. Especially with a lack of differentiation between nouns and pronouns in Chinese, it is a surprisingly appropriate nickname.
18 Comments
Rom
I like it that the other names are repeated one-syllable names. sounds cute.
Long Zheng
@Rom: Repeated one-syllable words are very common in Chinese for nicknames
Mayur
These Red pandas look really awesome
Serb
That red fellow is so cute! Btw can you read Chinese, Long? Obviously, I guess because you grew in China.
Long Zheng
@Serb: Yeah I can read a bit of Chinese (forgot a lot of it without practice), but I still speak Chinese.
Karun AB
Cute
Unlimited Potential for a name can be looked as a subtle joke.. Calling a red panda “Microsoft” on the other hand seems weird 
Rom
@Long Zheng: Yeah it is, I’m half-Chinese
but can’t speak the language, can understand some fookien dialect though..
Ryan Raphael
As a Chinese I have to point out that “Microsoft” is translated into “a little bit soft” or “Tiny and Soft”., but not “Very Soft’
Matt Sharpe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EljRVE2FPPY
Joshua
DAAWWWWW… so cute! I like how they named the female “Unlimited Potential”. Seems appropriate to me.
maguay
LOL that’s great! I clicked the link thinking that it couldn’t be true
Very funny!!! Thanks for the laugh!!!
Alex
They could came up with more appropriate names like Win Win and Word Word. I don’t want to know Bill Gates children’s names.
Saijo George
Nice one… its on Digg now.. http://digg.com/software/Microsoft_sponsors_Firefox
Corwin Tse
@Long and Ryan: Concerning the Chinese name for Microsoft 微软. It is a direct translation of the original English name Micro-soft. 微 for micro, 软 for soft. A direct interpretation of the Chinese name would be “slightly soft”.
I think the real subtle joke is that Unlimited Potential 潛潛 (qián qián) has the same Mandarin pronunciation as “money money” 錢錢 (qián qián). A good-fortune name.
Manmohanjit
Could you ever imaging Microsoft Firefox 3.5 or Windows Firefox 3.5? That sound really weird but that will increase Microsoft’s profit a lot.
Andre F.
Tree kangaroos are much cuter. ^__^
kidcvs
It’s so funny
Asuka
Long, You still Speak Chinese, Good !
Leave a Reply
Microsoft patrocinando o … … Firefox? « OxenTI
[...] Via istartedsomething (Via @Fabinhuh) Posts RelacionadosBUEMBA! Microsoft poderá incluir Safari, Chrome e Firefox no Windows SevenMicrosoft atacou e a Mozilla revidou!O Navegador da Microsoft pode ser o melhor do mundoFirefox 3.5 Release Candidate,finalmente disponível!E cadê o Firefox 3.5? [...]
微软中国领养了Firefox « 每日IT新闻，最新IT资讯，聚合多站点消息，保证你与世界同步
[...] 微软赞助了Firefox，但并非是美国的Mozilla公司，而是 川成都熊猫饲养和研究基地里的小熊猫——又名火狐 或Firefox。微软中国终生领养了一对熊猫（网站并没有 清楚写明是小熊猫还是大熊猫），名字分别叫“微软 和“潜潜”。 [...]
Microsoft finance Firefox
[...] [Source et photo] [...]
Microsoft finance Firefox | Encher.net
[...] [Source et photo] [...]