Jeremy Kirk

Mikhail Gorbachev, who is credited with aiding the end of the Cold War, wrote to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates on Monday asking for help in halting the trial of Aleksandr Ponosov, 40, who could face up to five years in prison.

California police arrested a man on Tuesday who allegedly sold illegally copied Microsoft Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc. software on the Internet for seven years, netting him an estimated US$750,000 .

Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates outlined on Wednesday a vision of education in which students worldwide use high-speed Internet connections and curriculums that draw on online resources such as Wikipedia to become more globally competitive.

Microsoft Corp. will take a new approach toward mid-size companies it suspects of using unlicensed software, sending a series of letters culminating in a threat of legal action from the Business Software Alliance (BSA), a company official said.

Hackers are exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft Corp. Word that could allow them to take control of a victim's computer, Symantec Corp. has warned.

Open-source database company EnterpriseDB is expanding its sales office in London, part of a move by the company to try to grow its business worldwide.

Microsoft Corp. will begin the international roll-out of its consumer security software on Jan. 30 when it releases a new version of Windows Live OneCare in the U.S. and 16 other countries.

The U.K. government wants to relax data protection laws so it can share people's personal data across different government agencies, but critics are decrying the proposal as another move toward a "big brother" state.rn