Still going through "Redmond Justice" withdrawal? Hey, who can blame you? After all, the day-to-day drama of the courtroom testimony was simply enthralling; the verbal thrust and parry, the mind games, the tearful confessions, the on-the-stand suicide attempts-- well, you get the point. So yeah, we miss the daily antitrust battle between Microsoft and the government, too, and we admit that it's going to be tough waiting out the weeks before the next installment. In the meantime, though, modern technology has provided us with a minor miracle. It's Mini-Redmond Justice-- identical to the real show in every way, but one-eighth the size.

If, like us, you were too wrapped up in the government's case to notice Microsoft's other antitrust suit filed by a tiny company named Bristol Technologies, hey, don't beat yourself up about it; no one can watch everything on TV. (Believe us, we've tried.) So here's the skinny: Bristol apparently makes software that lets people run Windows software on the Unix platform. To make this product, they licensed the Windows source code from Microsoft. Then, once Microsoft managed to carve out a decent and growing market for the Unix-challenging Windows NT, they allegedly denied Bristol access to NT source code in an attempt to kill Wind/U and encourage migration from Unix to NT. At least, that's what Bristol says. Microsoft apparently didn't "deny" Bristol access to the software, though they did raise their licensing price significantly. However, other companies reportedly pay the higher license fee and consider it a fair price...

Regardless, we're coming in at the end. The trial's over, and after two days of deliberation, the jury found that "Microsoft did not commit antitrust violations," according to a CNET article. Bristol was looking to get $263 million, but instead they got a whopping $1. (See, the jury did side with Bristol on one count, and found that Microsoft had violated a Connecticut unfair trade law.) Microsoft's pretty happy, of course, but the buzz is that the outcome of this case should have no bearing on the outcome of the real "Redmond Justice," so don't start changing your bets just yet. Especially given how many points the government managed to score off Microsoft's legal team throughout the trial... Guess we'll know next year sometime, provided the sides don't settle first.