Wow, this story is infuriating. It's just Microsoft at it's tactics again, but it's just disturbing to hear what they actually are.

Microsoft is on trial for stealing technology. The facts are, before the case has even begun:

• Microsoft has admitted deleting 35 weeks of emails, pertaining only to this case. Why? Because, they claim, Burst's technology was "unimpressive and not of interest to Microsoft". However, it took them two years to figure that out, and enough emails were kept that printed out, they filled 120 boxes. If the technology was that aweful, and they only managed to figure that out after two years, why didn't they delete all the messages, and not just 35 weeks worth? Yeah, maybe just a little suspicious. It's also of interest that for those 35 weeks, they not only deleted the messages off the user desktops, they took the time to go to the mail servers and removed the copies from there.
• Microsoft has begun cc'ing lawyers when sending emails. This allows them to claim attorney-client privilages. Microsoft can't claim to have invented this either though, the lawyers in the tobacco cases figured that one out.

The Burst lawyers did their homework though, and noticed from the Sun-Microsoft trial that Microsoft stores all emails on over 100,000 off-site tapes. So, the judge ordered them to produce the messages. The judge wasn't buying their tale either -- upon Microsoft's statement that finding the messages would be like finding a needle in a haystack, the judge reminded them that is was they who put the needle in the hay. Good one, judge :-)