Ex-Soviet leader and Nobel peace prize winner Mikhail Gorbachev personally asked Microsoft boss Bill Gates to intercede on behalf of a Russian teacher said to have used "pirated" software in class.

But Gates turned Gorbachev's appeal down, says The New York Times.

"In an open letter, Mr Gorbachev said Alexander Ponosov, from a village in the Urals, should be shown mercy because he did not know he was committing a crime by using unlicensed copies of Microsoft software," says The Telegraph., going on that Gorbachev's letter, posted on his charitable foundation site, says:

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.

Withdrawal of the complaint would have been a, "noble step enthusiastically received by all those in Russia who use Microsoft products".

Much of PC software in use in Russia, "is obtained illicitly, according to groups like the Business Software Association [BSA], whose members include Microsoft," says the NYT.

In 2005, Britain's prestigious The Economist had this to say about BSA "piracy" statements.

"The association's figures rely on sample data that may not be representative, assumptions about the average amount of software on PCs and, for some countries, guesses rather than hard data. Moreover, the figures are presented in an exaggerated way by the BSA and International Data Corporation (IDC), a research firm that conducts the study. They dubiously presume that each piece of software pirated equals a direct loss of revenue to software firms.

To derive its piracy rate, IDC estimates the average amount of software that is installed on a PC per country, using data from surveys, interviews and other studies. That figure is then reduced by the known quantity of software sold per country-a calculation in which IDC specialises. The result: a (supposed) amount of piracy per country. Multiplying that figure by the revenue from legitimate sales thus yields the retail value of the unpaid-for software. This, IDC and BSA claim, equals the amount of lost revenue.

Meanwhile, "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia condemned the prosecution last week at his annual news conference," says the NYT.

"To grab someone for buying a computer somewhere and start threatening him with prison is complete nonsense, simply ridiculous," Putin declared, according to the story. "The law recognizes the concept of someone who purchased the product in good faith."

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Also See:
The New York Times - Microsoft Spurns Appeal to Intervene in Russian Piracy Case, February 6, 2007
The Telegraph - Gorbachev asks Gates to spare teacher, February 6, 2007
had this to say - The Economist angers BSA, June 15, 2005