Most people in the U.S. are thankful to have a four-day weekend, but it seems that the lawyers working on the "Redmond Justice" case may not be so lucky. Even though this was only a three-day court week, it seemed to drag on forever; economist Frederick Warren-Boulton is still on the stand for cross-examination, as Microsoft lawyer Mike Lacovara tried to break down his testimony that Microsoft is a monopoly. Unfortunately, Mike is taking forever trying to find a chink in Fred's armor, and the slow pace of the trial hasn't put Judge Jackson in a particularly happy holiday mood. The judge has made it clear to Lacovara that when Fred takes the stand yet again on Monday, it should be for the last time. So it looks like Lacovara's going to be spending at least part of his Thanksgiving weekend "cutting his questions."

A New York Times article suggests that Microsoft's court strategy is to "challenge [Warren-Boulton] in so many areas that he will end up making one or two statements, inadvertently or otherwise, that Microsoft can use against him." That's not a bad strategy, nor is it an unusual one, we'd warrant-- but it certainly hints that Microsoft is grasping at straws on this one. When, in all the hours of cross-examination of the witness, Microsoft has to resort to pouncing on a single "off-hand observation" that Netscape has added features to Navigator over the years and then proposing it as evidence that the government's own witness is guilty of supporting a double standard, well, frankly, it smacks of desperation.

You think "desperation" is too strong a word? Perhaps. But consider how strongly Microsoft is trying to use the recent AOL buyout of Netscape in court to strengthen its case-- they're trying so hard to make a point, they're actually reporting incorrect facts. During his cross-examination, Lacovara actually stated that Sun would be acquiring Netscape Navigator under the terms of the buyout. That certainly woke up the judge, who asked if that was "really the case," to which Lacovara responded that "it was reported on MSNBC" so it had to be true. Ummm, Mike? Which company accounts for forty percent of the letters in "MSNBC"? Needless to say, the report was false-- Sun distributes Netscape's server software under the terms of the deal, not the web browser. Hey, what's a Thanksgiving special without a big ol' turkey in the courtroom?