And in "Redmond Justice" news, apparently we aren't the only viewers who think Microsoft's new mouthpiece Ted Edelman is as, er, uncompelling as Scott Hope on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Based on several reports, Edelman (who entered the ring to relieve heavy-hitter John Warden once Apple golden boy Avie Tevanian took the stand for cross-examination) seemed to us to be whiny, sarcastic, and about as sharp as a bag of wet hair. True, we weren't there for the shooting, but the judge was-- and he evidently agrees with us. A Bloomberg News article details how, on the second day of Avie's cross-examination, an impatient Judge Jackson yelled at Ted for deliberately "mischaracterizing" Avie's statements.

Reportedly, the judge's sour looks had revealed his distaste for Ted's "sarcastic tone" since he made his first on-screen appearance on Wednesday, but the straw that broke the judge's back was Ted's constant and belligerent practice of referring to certain email messages as "proposals," even after Avie had repeatedly and clearly stated that they were not. When Ted went one "proposal" over the line, the judge cut him off, ordering him to cease and desist: "It's misleading language and it is not acceptable to me." Considering that this isn't a jury trial, we have to assume that Ted was trying such a cheap mischaracterization in hopes of putting one over on the judge himself-- not a smart move, we imagine, unless you've got one stupid judge. Apparently Jackson didn't fall for it.

Note to Microsoft: you may want to consider benching Ted. Irritating the viewing audience is a sure way to lose ratings, but irritating the judge in a federal antitrust trial is a whole other ball of icky stuff. And based on what we've seen, Avie's testimony still stands very strong, with less doubt cast on his credibility than Warden was able to throw at the previous witnesses. Ted was good for the comic relief of making the judge yell, but he's a one-trick pony and we doubt he'll stay on the show for long. (Then again, we were hoping that Scott Hope would get vamped and staked two episodes ago...)