The Saga of Alexandr Ponosov

Russian middle school principal, Alexander Ponosov,
faces five years in a Siberian prison camp and a
fine of 266,000 rubles (approximately $10,042).

Why???

Alexander Ponosov purchased computers for the students
in his school, which is located in the Perm region which
lies in the Ural Mountains, between Moscow and Siberia.
Pre-installed Windows came with the computers.  Unfortunately
(and unbeknownst to Alexander Posonov) the pre-installed
software was counterfeit, pirated software.

Software piracy is big business and it is well known that
the three biggest offenders are China, India, and Russia.
Microsoft has asked these countries to crack down on the
piracy.

Mikhail Gorbachev has asked Bill Gates to intervene and
drop the charges.  Officially Microsoft has stated that
is not them but the Russian government enforcing the law.
Microsoft has stated "We do respect the Russian government's
position on the importance of protecting intellectual
property rights."

Later reports do say that Microsoft actually is the plaintiff
in this case.

Apparently no action will be  taken against the sellers of
the computer with the pirated software. The Russian
prosecutors appear to be cracking down on unsuspecting end
users and not the software pirates themselves.

Russian President Vladimir Putin calls the whole affair ridiculous
and announced at his weekly press conference that "It's
ridiculous to just arrest a chap for using computers".

(edited 2/21/2007 - Charges against Alexander Ponosov have
been dropped but Russian schools are rapidly migrating to Linux
and other Free Software.  Microsoft escaped with only a black eye
which has not been widely reported stateside.)