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If It Ain't Broke... (6/7/99)
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See, the thing about "Redmond Justice" is this: when the writers hit upon a winning strategy, they know a good thing when they see it. In the past the show has entertained the drooling masses by casting the Microsoft legal team as the bumbling buffoons, whose mistakes and feeble attempts at chicanery were exposed by the sharp eye and sharper tongue of government legal eagle David Boies-- much to the visible amusement of Judge Jackson, who, in an arguably unprofessional manner, has been known to laugh at Microsoft in court. We, the viewing audience, just love that stuff. And, knowing better than to mess with a sure-fire ratings-winner, they've given it to us again.
This latest episode concerns email sent by Microsoft employees which strongly suggests (and by "strongly suggests" we mean "flat-out proves") that the company tried to downplay the effect that the free-for-download and bundled-with-Windows Internet Explorer had on rival Netscape's market share. Of course, this isn't the first time that Microsoft has been made to squirm in court due to email sent from within the Redmond compound, but what makes this particular incident so entertaining is the fact that the latest email admitted into evidence was sent this past January. As in, long after Microsoft had already been embarrassed in court by its own electronic missives. Apparently some people never learn. NewsBytes has the story.
Never a team to disappoint the fans, the "Redmond Justice" writers had Boies read the email aloud-- and according to the article, "the federal judge presiding over the non-jury case, Thomas Penfield Jackson, laughed." Now that's a crowd-pleaser! The email was presented during Boies' questioning of MIT economist Franklin Fisher, who has been holding his own in his attacking of Microsoft's monopolistic abuses; when Boies asked him to comment on the new email message, Fisher said, "This document speaks for itself louder than most." Indeed.
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SceneLink (1588)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 6/7/99 episode: June 7, 1999: The "P1" consumer portable starts to take shape-- but is that shape just a little thick about the middle? Meanwhile, Larry Ellison's flapping his gums again, about an Apple computer due this summer that is converting him back into a full-time Mac user, and "Redmond Justice" stays the course with more embarrassing Microsoft email and a laughing Judge Jackson...
Other scenes from that episode: 1586: The Softer Side of P1 (6/7/99) You know the usual drill: the details of future Apple hardware start out sketchy when they first surface months or years before the product is officially unveiled. Then, over time, various conflicting reports start to flicker and fade, other new data joins the mix, and as the release date approaches, the whole confusing mess slowly coalesces into a fairly accurate picture of the product as we'll finally get to see it on store shelves... 1587: Loose Lips And All That (6/7/99) Longtime viewers know that the AtAT staff has very select television viewing standards; things are just too hectic these days to sit down and watch any old show to kill some time. So while we have nothing against PBS' Charlie Rose, it's just not something we're likely to watch when there's a Buffy rerun on that we've only seen twice-- sure, we've got that particular rerun on tape, but it's Spike, people!...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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