While it's not quite over yet, the testimony in the "Redmond Justice" case appears to be ending not with a bang, but with a whimper. At least, if the Microsoft legal team isn't whimpering by now, we have to admire their fortitude in the face of increasing adversity. The final witness in the case, MIT economist Richard Schmalensee ("SCHMALENSEE!!"), wasn't winning any points with Judge Jackson, who had already seemed somewhat skeptical of the textbook analysis put forth as evidence that Microsoft holds no monopoly. But once government lawyer David Boies jumped into the ring for cross examination, Schmalensee's credibility began to melt away like an ice cube on a Pentium chip. A ZDNet article has the details.

First of all, Boies raised the issue of how much Schmalensee was paid by Microsoft. Now, we don't know how much salary the dean of MIT's Sloan School of Management pulls down, but he could be working as a part-time fry cook at Mickey D's and still living more than comfortably, since he reluctantly admitted that Microsoft paid him over a quarter of a million dollars over the past two years-- plus another $300,000 in bonuses from the National Economic Research Association, the organization who issues his Microsoft payments. Ladies and gentlemen in the viewing audience, the AtAT staff would like to make it clear that if anyone wants to pay us over a half a million dollars to be public cheerleaders, we're ready to be bought for any cause-- credibility be damned. Especially if we can be as ineffectual as Schmalensee and still cash the checks.

Then Boies tore into Schmalensee's claim that, because of existing and upcoming web-based applications, the Internet is a "platform" that forms a threat to Windows' popularity. In response to Boies' questioning, the economist admitted that, yes, connecting to the Internet to use those applications right now does require an operating system-- like Windows. And for the coup de grace, Boies pointed out discrepancies in Schmalensee's charts, forcing the admission that "one of these is wrong, I think that's apparent." Don't even get us started on Schmalensee's claim that Microsoft's policy of charging PC manufacturers for Windows whether the customer actually wants to buy it or not is an "anti-piracy measure." Hmmm... suppose Microsoft is questioning whether they got their half a million dollars' worth right about now? Schmalensee's testimony continues Thursday, after which they'll scrape up what's left of him and ship him home.