Some color variables don't work in IE properly for gradient

[joelmats]

For example,

$white is defined as #FFF but when used with the Microsoft.gradient property as in .breadcrumb, in IE9 it displays the breadcrumb as blue. I think IE9 treats it as #FFF000.

[skyeagle]

The same issue. It looks like in production #fffffff color minified to #fff then IE treat it as #fff000.