Switching gears to the Evil Empire, we find the wheels are still turning behind the scenes of "Redmond Justice." While the courtroom drama is officially on hiatus and off the air for another few weeks, negotiations as to the outcome of the season finale continue. When last we discussed this, Microsoft representatives had stated that they were "open" to settlement discussions, but no talks had yet been initiated. Now that's changed; some government representatives have indeed received a settlement offer from Microsoft-- and it shows that our Redmond protagonist is "open" to settlement in roughly the same way that, say, Archie Bunker was "open" to interracial dating.

According to a ZDNet AnchorDesk article, Bill Gates' willingness to settle is predicated on his stated requirement that Microsoft be able to continue to "innovate" Windows and maintain its "integrity" as "a fully designed product." Meaning, presumably, that Internet Explorer (which, as it's plain to see by anyone with eyes, is not a web browser, but "web browsing technology that is inseparable from Windows") stays bundled, and if Microsoft sees fit to add word processing, spreadsheet, database, and presentation capabilities to its operating system as well, any settlement they make should allow them to do that. Don't be surprised if Excel turns into a Windows "integrated spreadsheet technology," at which point Microsoft will swear up and down that it was always planned as such. Hm.

So in other words, Microsoft isn't likely to settle any time soon. While details haven't been released, the proposed settlement they sent the government was described by government reps as "minimalist," "far from adequate," and "nowhere near acceptable." Sounds like an obvious ploy to follow the judge's orders to try to reach a settlement during the hiatus without actually having any intention of doing so. This way, when court resumes, they can at least say, "Hey, we tried." So will we get to follow "Redmond Justice" through to the bitter end? And if it's renewed for next season, get ready for "Redmond Justice: The Appeal." We've got chills just thinking about it.