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Microsoft spurns appeal in Russian piracy case

1. From News.com:

Gorbachev, former leader of the Soviet Union and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said Ponosov, a school principal in a village in the Urals, risked imprisonment in a Siberian camp for using unlicensed Windows software that he said was preinstalled on the computers.

“The 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,” Gorbachev wrote to Gates in a letter posted on the Web site of Gorbachev’s charitable foundation.

2. Microsoft’s response?

“Mr. Ponosov’s case is a criminal case and as such was initiated and investigated by the public prosecutor’s office in Russia,” said Microsoft, whose European operations are based in Paris. “We are sure that the Russian courts will make a fair decision.”

“We do respect the Russian government’s position on the importance of protecting intellectual property rights.”

3. To all those at Microsoft who were involved in making that decision — I truly, sincerely, hope you die a long, slow, painful death. But Fake Steve said it best:

And you guys at Microsoft still wonder why the entire world hates you? Man oh man. You’ve got more money than God and yet you’re gonna toss some poor broke-ass Russian in prison? Evil.

• Posted in In the news..., RightBrain on the 07.02.2007 @ 10:14:31 PM, Permanent Link
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