Hey, remember way back when "Redmond Justice" was just going into production? While Microsoft head dude and all-around Rich Guy™ Bill Gates wasn't named as a trial witness by either his own company or the government, he was deposed during discovery-- and Microsoft's lawyers made a big stink over trying to keep their boss' deposition a private affair. Despite the Publicity in Taking Evidence Act of 1913, which states clearly that the depositions taken in any federal antitrust case "shall be open to the public as freely as are trials in open court," Microsoft's legal eagles argued that allowing outsiders to attend Gates' deposition would turn the whole case into a media circus. (As opposed, of course, to the staid and dignified affair that it's turned out to be instead.) The judge ruled according to the 1913 law as written, Microsoft appealed his decision, and Gates' deposition was taken in private-- but it was videotaped so that it could be released to the public if Microsoft's appeal was denied. (Are you following all this?)

So that was the deal: Gates was questioned in private, and the resulting twenty hours of videotaped testimony were closed to the public, pending Microsoft's appeal. Oh, sure, the government has shown snippets of the testimony during the trial, to great effect-- Gates came across as baffled, petulant, whiny, and just plain hostile. And while those particular excerpts have been publicly available, the entire deposition has not. However, that's about to change; according to Computer Reseller News, the U.S. Court of Appeals has unanimously ruled that Judge Jackson's decision was correct. Microsoft's appeal was denied, and the full deposition is now a matter of public record.

So what does this mean for the average "Redmond Justice" fan? Well, not a whole lot, admittedly. After all, you'd expect that the government would have chosen the "best parts" of the testimony to show during the trial. We're guessing that the "uncut" deposition will appeal (pardon the pun) primarily to real collectors and die-hard fans of the show, kind of like the people circulating the stolen copy of the Buffy unaired pilot episode. Let's see, twenty hours of Bill Gates fidgeting and dodging questions... It might be a decent sleep aid. Or bars could pop it up on their TV's when they're trying to clear the place out at night. Heck, there are plenty of real-world applications if you look hard enough. And Microsoft's never been one to pass up a potential moneymaker; we wouldn't be surprised if they compressed the whole twenty hours into Video for Windows format (but not QuickTime, oh no siree) and pressed it onto a CD-ROM. Look for Microsoft Hostile Witness 99™, coming soon to a software shelf near you.