From a purely rational standpoint (or, at least, as close as we ever get to such a thing), we can't say we're all that surprised that "Redmond Justice" is now probably mere hours away from one seriously anticlimactic final episode. After all, the new judge had given Microsoft and the Justice Department a deadline of tomorrow by which to arrive at a settlement, and the new Bush-era DoJ has reportedly been far less interested in smacking down Redmond than its predecessor was. Still, though, the fact that former settlement talks had always been utter wastes of time gave us a glimmer of hope that maybe this case would be headed back to court for another round of high drama.

Alas, though, it appears that further conflict is not to be; faithful viewer dzhim! forwarded us an Associated Press article which indicates that Microsoft and the DoJ have actually reached a "tentative" settlement deal. Sadly, we have no idea what the terms of that agreement might be, though the very fact that Microsoft is willing to accept them implies to us that the deal seriously lacks teeth. In all likelihood, after nearly four years of bitter struggle at the taxpayers' expense, despite having proven that Microsoft both wields and abuses monopoly power (the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, so Microsoft's out of appeals on that front), it looks like the feds are preparing to roll over and deal Bill and the gang a slap on the wrist.

Indeed, one of the proposed settlement terms kicked around over the past few days involves "letting Microsoft add new features into its flagship Windows software, but requiring the company also to offer a version that doesn't include those additions." Ooooo, stop it, you're scaring us. So Microsoft can keep steamrolling competitors the same way it neutered Netscape just as long as it keeps selling, say, Windows 3.1 as well as Windows XP 2 ("Now With Integrated Office™!!")? Man, Bill must be shaking in his boots. This might turn out to be almost as bad for him as that earlier 1995 consent decree that forced him to change his ways so he couldn't bundle IE with Windows, drive a competitor out of business, and prompt yet another federal antitrust lawsui-- uh, yeah.

But there's still a chance of drama ahead; the state attorneys general are still reviewing the terms of the settlement, and if they don't sign on, they'll fight on without the feds. So we'll see what happens come tomorrow. At this point, though, we're expecting yet another consent decree that Microsoft can mount in a nice frame, hang on the wall of the board room next to the last one, and snicker at each morning before business as usual. But hey, the ride was fun, right?