What Do You Want to Plead Today?

WASHINGTON: Boy, is Bill Gates ever in trouble this time. Not only did the Microsoft CEO display a Clinton-like "failure of recollection" when the Justice Department asked him about his business practices under oath last week, but the feds are also alleging that Microsoft beat on everyone from Apple to Intel "at the specific and pointed direction of Bill Gates." The charges, contained in a hefty 89-page court filing released Tuesday, constitute a none-too-subtle warning to the tousle-haired billionaire -- be more forthcoming in your final deposition Wednesday, or we'll throw the book at you.

At the same time, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson has to weigh up the charges against Microsoft's demand that the whole antitrust case be thrown out of court. Is there enough beef here, or is the government just scrambling to fill the gap left by the recent appeals court ruling -- which decided that tying Internet Explorer to Windows was a legal integration? Well, none of the allegations are really surprising -- bullying Real Networks, Intuit and Apple are all par for the course, while there isn't a nerd alive who doesn't know what Microsoft thinks of Sun. What is new is how close the feds place Gates to the center of the action. He -- and his army of attorneys -- have got a lot of explaining to do.