When it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? Following their initial success with the idea, "Redmond Justice" writers are really pushing the envelope on this whole "videotaped evidence" plot device. First, we had the semi-controversial practice of the Department of Justice showing snippets of Bill Gates' fumbling and hostile video deposition, providing interesting insights into the potential anti-trust practices of Microsoft while also giving us some welcome comic relief. Then, a couple of weeks ago, there was that whole brouhaha when government lawyer David Boies noticed that Microsoft's videotaped test of Windows speed degradation following the removal of Internet Explorer had to be faked, involving footage from several computers spliced together; Microsoft later admitted that the tape was an "illustration" instead of an actual test, amid several courtroom gasps. Within the following week, Microsoft tripped over another videotaped test, this time comparing the relative speed of Internet access between Windows 3.1 and Windows 98; Boies discovered that the Windows 98 system had the unfair advantage of a faster modem.

So given the fantastic ratings return from all this videotape intrigue, what makes you think the writers would abandon the plot device just because it's getting stale? According to a Newsbytes article, in the last installment of "Redmond Justice," Microsoft introduced yet another videotaped test, this time meant to illustrate how easy it would be for a Windows user to download, install, configure, and use Netscape Navigator instead of the "integrated" Internet Explorer if he or she so desired. Microsoft's argument, of course, is that bundling IE with Windows isn't unfairly taking browser market share away from competitors, since any customer could simply download competing software at any time. Boies, of course, wasn't going to let Microsoft introduce any videotaped evidence without questioning its veracity, and claimed that the tape falsely portrayed the whole process as much easier than it really was for the average user. For instance, whereas most users would have to wait for an hour or two while Navigator creeps onto their hard disks via, say, a 33.6 kbps connection, the videotaped demo used a high-speed Internet connection and showed the whole process as taking "a matter of minutes."

And despite the fact that this video directly contradicts the deposition of one of Microsoft's own executives who stated that downloading software from the Internet "takes too long" and is "too hard" for the average user, we hear that Boies and the boys plan to fight back with their own videotaped evidence this week. If ComputerWorld is correct, we should expect to see a tape depicting the real experience of someone who decides to switch from IE to Netscape; we wonder if it'll be complete with dropped connections, aborted downloads, and all the other occasionaly pitfalls that plague the average dial-up web surfer? Hopefully the DoJ has a strategy to jazz up the video a little bit, as we can imagine few things more boring than watching a download progress bar inch from left to right at the speed of a slug on quaaludes. Perhaps they can use picture-in-picture to show The Price Is Right in the corner, or something.