I simply could'nt believe it when I heard on the radio to-day that a Russian headmaster,Mr Alexander Ponosov has been arrested for purchasing computer's for his school, that had pre-loaded Microsoft software, that contained pirated software.

Piracy, in all its forms is illegal, but I challenge anyone reading this to ask themselves, if they have ever purchased or used a pirated consumer product?. If there is anyone who can say no, I'd be stunned.It is known by all the major consumer brand's that piracy exists and they wish to stop it, which is their right, but to arrest a teacher in the middle of nowhere,1000 miles from Moscow, for such a crime I feel is a little rich, especially when its Microsoft.

The affair is gaining huge publicity in Russia, and ex-president and Noble Prize winner, Mikail Gorbachev, has written in an open letter to Bill Gates on his website, "A teacher, who has dedicated his life to the education of children and who receives a modest salary that does not bear comparison with the salaries of even regular staff in your company, is threatened with detention in Siberian prison camps,"

Mr Gorbachev goes on to say,"We have great respect for the work of Microsoft's programmers ?¦ and are in no way casting doubt on the principle of punishment for intellectual property violations. However, in this case we ask you to show mercy and withdraw your complaint against Alexander Ponosov,"

Now, to most reasonable people what Mr Gorbachev says in his letter is not un-reasonable and with Bill Gates to have an estimated net worth of some $53bn you would expect a little bit of leniacy. Not a bit of it, Microsoft rebuffed the plea from Mr Gorbachev. It went on to praise Russia's enforcement of intellectual property rights, and sought to distance itself from the affair by issuing statements through its PR agency in London, it did'nt even have the common decency to reply to Gorbachev directly.

So, Microsoft is happy to see " A teacher, who has dedicated his life to the education of children and who receives a modest salary" to go to prison, and be fined, whilst it can spend millions of dollars defending itself in anti-trust suits.

Somehow this does'nt feel right.