MS on Trial Another wave of Microsoft trial testimony is to be made public next week, in accordance with a US appeals court ruling earlier this year. The testimony, almost 100 depositions, will consist largely of material collected but not used in court, but will also include three days of interviews with Bill Gates. Were we bored with Gates TV, or do we miss the lad squirming, failing to remember things and not understanding questions? We'll see. The appeals ruling also means that rebuttal evidence being taken prior to the trial resumption will be taken in public. At least one of the earlier witnesses due to make his public debut next week is an odd case. The DoJ evidently forgot to tell Scott Vesey of Boeing that he had been chosen as a witness in the Microsoft trial, and the first he knew about his being called was when he read it in a newspaper. Vesey had said in his deposition that Boeing thought it could save $5 million on support costs by using the Netscape browser rather than IE for its 170,000 PCs. In the event, Vesey was not called because the DoJ decided that witnesses from Sun and Apple were more important than Vesey and another economist. However, extracts from his videotaped deposition were shown to the court. Peter Currie, formerly executive VP of Netscape, will be the remaining person to be deposed by Microsoft. This will be next Wednesday in Washington. Microsoft is claiming on its web site that Judge Jackson "had granted Microsoft the right to examine documents from [AOL, Netscape and Sun], declaring that the deal could have a significant effect on the current antitrust lawsuit brought against Microsoft by the US Department of Justice and 19 state attorneys general". Apart from omitting to mention that the District of Columbia is also a party, it was unwise of Microsoft to put a spin on the judge's words. ® Complete Register trial coverage