Housing slump hits Microsoft in wallet

You know how deep the housing slump is when even Microsoft feels its weight.

As Reuters noted from Friday's company proxy statement, the company, like a lot of homeowners, found itself in a position where it had to sell a house at a loss — up to a $2 million loss.

The pain came from a house once owned by Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell. When Microsoft hired Liddell in 2005, it bought Liddell's East Coast home — he lived in Connecticut — for a price based on independent appraisals, Reuters said.

The company sold the house in the past fiscal year — for what's described as a significant, unspecified loss. The amount was included in a $2 million relocation expense.

A Microsoft spokesman would not give Reuters more details, but did say the bulk of the expense consisted of the loss on the sale — proving real estate can be a lot more grinding sometimes than debugging software.

We got the gist

On the other hand, a $2 million loss pales in comparison to the rough start of the week Microsoft had when the European Court of First Instance upheld the sanctions and penalties (a $613 million fine) levied against the company for anticompetitive business practices in Europe.

Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith was still able to inject some levity into his remarks at a news conference shortly after the ruling and associated documentation was delivered.

"I have to admit that as I stand here holding this decision, I'm reminded of a line that Woody Allen once uttered.

He said, 'I have taken a course in speed reading and I read 'War and Peace' in 20 minutes. It's about Russia.'

Now we've had about two hours to read this. It has nothing to do with Russia, but it certainly has a great deal to say about the future of our company, our industry and competition law here in Europe."

View from above

The word last week came from comScore, the online measurement company, that the fastest-growing Web property last month was GodTube.com, which drew 1.7 million visitors during the month after launching Aug. 8.

"GodTube.com's success is proof positive that Jesus 2.0 is the wave of the future," Chris Wyatt, CEO and founder of the site said. " Our entire culture is becoming Internet focused. Today, people use the Internet to search for practically everything they need in life. Why not their faith?"

The Dallas-based site says it has more than 20,000 videos — 800,000 hours' worth — expressing that faith.

Sharing hoops

MyLifeBrand, the Kirkland startup that seeks to give users one place to go to manage their social networks and communications with online communities and friends, is partnering with the Utah Jazz to power the NBA team's online community.

By joining that community, Jazz fans can create their own profiles, share photos and videos, blog and message each other — just another example of how online activity has embedded itself in sports.

Meanwhile, back in Seattle, the Sonics community probably has other things than social networking on its mind. Like arena leases and out-of-town owners.

Download, a column of news bits, observations and miscellany, is gathered by The Seattle Times technology staff. We can be reached at 206-464-2265 or biztech@seattletimes.com.