Wouldn't you know it? Mere days after we freaked out over the remotest possibility of a second antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft, faithful viewer Scott Newell clued us in to the distinct possibility that the current "Redmond Justice" case may come to a crashing conclusion any day now. According to an article over at Wired, it's been almost four whole months since lawyers from Redmond and "the other Washington" stood up in front of the appeals court and argued their respective points. Of course, the real focus of that debacle was not any alleged wrongdoing by Microsoft, but rather what the appeals court saw as the grossly inappropriate behavior of Judge Jackson. Impartial observers generally agreed that things were most definitely going Microsoft's way, but given how long the court has gone without delivering a verdict, nobody's quite sure what to believe anymore.

Most interested parties agree on one thing, though; a decision is likely to materialize any day now, and that's got a lot of people nervous. In addition to the case having sat cold for four months, Judge Edwards (the "normally easygoing" head judge who's Grand Poobah of the We Hate Judge Jackson Society) is resigning in "mid-July," and odds are he's going to want to put his official mark on this case before he jets off to Tahiti for fruity rum drinks served in novelty Tiki mugs; that only leaves a few weeks, tops, before a decision shows up. Reportedly the court typically issues its opinions "every Tuesday and Friday" at about 10 AM, so those mark some tense moments for lawyers on both sides of this enduring conflict.

Of course, when the decision does show up, that's probably not the end of "Redmond Justice"-- not by a long shot. If the idea of a second lawsuit filed by the state attorneys general disturbs you, chew on this possibility: the appeals court could order that the case be sent "back to a judge other than Jackson for more hearings, or"-- ready for this?-- "perhaps even a new trial." Just think, we might get to start the whole process all over again; we're so excited, we just might projectile vomit! If you want to be notified when the court finally delivers its opinion, you can sign up for an email announcement... but if you go that route, we'd keep a bucket handy if we were you.