And oh, what a glorious day it was; we hereby declare April 3rd to be Microsoft Smackdown Day, from now unto the end of time-- or at least until the actual remedies are announced. As you all know by the mangled corpses lining Wall Street, Judge Jackson has issued his conclusions of law, and the only ones surprised by the verdict are the jurors from the O.J. trial. Yes, the Redmond Juggernaut has been found to have violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by trying to extend its OS monopoly into the web browser market through the illegal tying of Internet Explorer to Windows. And when the word came down, the clouds parted, the sun shone through, a choir of angels sang, and "Redmond Justice" fans all over the world geared up for a night of partying that made Oscar night look like a quilting bee.

See, what's truly wonderful about this verdict is not so much that Microsoft received the legal equivalent of a vicious beatdown-- it didn't, really. After all, the judge did side with Microsoft on at least one point: Jackson ruled that the company's "exclusive distribution agreements" with PC manufacturers didn't illegally prevent Netscape from competing. No, what's great about the verdict is that it's a verdict, and not a settlement. A settlement would have meant that the party's over, but a bona fide verdict means that "Redmond Justice" will be on the air for a long, long time. Now we can look forward to hearings prior to the sentencing, the announcement of the remedies determined by the court, and a really lengthy appeals process-- not to mention all those dozens of other antitrust lawsuits filed against Microsoft, which can now use the "Redmond Justice" verdict as ammo. Three cheers for the byzantine and often-glacial U.S. justice system!

As usual, faithful viewer Jerry O'Neil has the goods when it comes to the best "Redmond Justice" action; he recommends the New York Times summary of how Jackson ruled. If Info McNuggets won't satisfy you and you really want to dig into the guts of the verdict, the Times also has the complete text of Jackson's conclusions of law. And for those of you who aren't convinced that this has anything to do with our favorite computer company, you should know that Apple's mentioned eleven times in Jackson's ruling. After all, we're just one big happy cast in the drama of technology...