Well, we've all heard about Avie Tevanian's written testimony in the "Redmond Justice" trial, and it's pretty clear that Avie's squarely on the government's side on this one. He hasn't been called for cross-examination yet-- that will likely happen on Wednesday-- but Bill Gates did respond to the allegations, albeit in a virtual timewarp Max Headroom-like way. The government played select video footage of Gates' taped deposition from last August in which he answered questions about the two specific allegations Avie made in his testimony: that Microsoft threatened to cancel Office for the Mac unless Internet Explorer became the default browser for the Mac OS; and that Microsoft tried to get Apple to cancel QuickTime for Windows, threatening to crush Apple otherwise. An IDG News Service article has lots of juicy details about Mr. Gates' testimony.

Apparently Gates doesn't come off too flatteringly on the tape; he's described as "ill-at-ease," "combative," and "befuddled." But we'll certainly say one thing for the man: he can dodge questions with the best of them. We haven't seen this many unlikely "I don't recalls" since the Ollie North hearings. When asked about an email message that he wrote about last year's Apple pact, in which he stated that he wanted to get "as much mileage as possible" out of the deal to build "a real advantage against Sun and Netscape," Gates claimed he didn't recall sending the message (which, by the way, included the question, "Do we have a clear plan on what we want Apple to do to undermine Sun?").

Probably the piece of evidence that struck the most resonant chord with us was email to Gates from Ben Waldman, the Microsoft dude in charge of Apple software. If you've seen any big Apple event in the past year or so, you've seen Waldman-- he's the guy who trots out the same old joke every time he hits the stage, saying how surprising it is that a Microsoft representative can get applause from a pack of Mac users. (That may change pretty quickly after this.) Well, if Waldman ever struck you as maybe being a two-faced weasel, you've now got more evidence to support your theory. In a message to Gates, he wrote, "the threat to cancel Mac Office 97 is certainly the strongest bargaining point we have, as doing so will do a great deal of harm to Apple immediately. I also believe that Apple is taking this threat pretty seriously..." We hope that's being taken waaay out of context, though we're hard-pressed to imagine a context in which it's a more positive statement. Kind of makes us less likely to see Waldman as a Mac guy trying to change Microsoft from the inside. By the way, Gates says he doesn't recall ever receiving this email. Big surprise. Things are coming to a head, that's for sure, and we're anxiously awaiting Avie's cross-examination, because he seems like a really level-headed guy who is finally totally fed up. Stay tuned.