Well, they said that the next big chapter in the "Redmond Justice" saga would happen on an "unspecified Friday," and if this isn't an unspecified Friday, we don't know what is. Lo and behold, at 6:30 PM Eastern Standard Time, the heavens opened up, a choir of angels sang, and Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's findings of fact in the hottest antitrust trial of the century were posted on the web for public consumption. Judging by the way in which the government's server came grinding to a shuddering halt once the document was posted, it seems that Judge Jackson's view of what Microsoft did and didn't do has sent the "Redmond Justice" ratings through the roof.

After persevering for what seemed like entire minutes, we were finally able to download the juicy file-- only to find that it consists of over 200 pages of semi-legalese. That's not exactly the sort of reading that appeals to people with attention spans as short as ours. Not that we were expecting a single page with 72-point all-caps proclaiming "BILL GATES IS EVIL AND MUST BE DESTROYED" or anything like that, but after skimming the first several pages of the judge's findings and nearly collapsing into a coma, we opted for the easy way out and went to see what others had to say on the subject. And what we found was encouraging; assuming that whoever's behind this Associated Press article isn't completely misinterpreting the judge's words, it looks like Microsoft has been officially found to wield monopoly power.

So some of you are saying, "Big whoop." Well, yeah, it's not like the rest of us don't know that Billy-Boy and company has a monopoly-- but this is a huge setback for Microsoft, who continually maintained throughout the trial that they don't have a monopoly. Furthermore, Jackson has found that Microsoft "has demonstrated that it will use its prodigious market power and immense profits to harm any firm that insists on pursuing initiatives that could intensify competition against one of Microsoft's core products." In other words, guilty, guilty, GUILTY!! It gets even better... as faithful viewer Jerry O'Neil points out, a New York Times article has a thorough rundown of the ways in which Microsoft got the shaft.

Keep in mind, these are just the judge's "findings of fact," not his official ruling, which is due a few months later-- but they're an excellent indication of what the verdict will be once the show winds to a close. Of course, now that little doubt remains whose side the judge is on, Gates is probably going to be much more willing to makes lots of concessions to the government at the negotiating table, and we wouldn't be at all surprised if both sides can hammer out a settlement before Jackson's axe falls. That would be a shame, though, and a bit of an anticlimax for a show that's built up such an intricate web of intrigue and suspense. Here's hoping that Microsoft remains stubborn and bull-headed enough to fight through to the bitter end-- for the sake of high drama.