Microsoft---Bob (fast)
>> c.e.o.’s of freddie mac and fannie mae say they should be allowed to continue their rapid growth because doing otherwise would raise costs for home buyers. the chief executives of the mortgage finance companies testified earlier today before the senate banking committee.
>> we would urge congress to ensure our minimum capital standard does not become a tool to alter national housing policy by restricting the flow of capital into housing.
>> his counterpart at freddie mac also commenting today, and both those comments coming a day after federal reserve chairman alan greenspan said that mortgage companies should have tougher regulation. microsoft may fail to settle the european union’s antitrust case and instead be subject to a ruling by the european commission. that coming from people familiar with the situation. bob bowden is on the microsoft story. i know he’s familiar with it.
>> good afternoon, mr. nesto. in fact, the european union case still rages on even though microsoft is settling with the u.s. justice department. in fact, deadlocked, the word coming from people familiar with microsoft’s antitrust settlement negotiations with the european union. the people also say the european commission has distributed a 300-page draft decision to national regulators. the final ruling may come in late march or early april. the european case centers on windows media player software, contending that microsoft is illegally using the bundling with the media player into windows for the sole purpose of stifling competition, not due to technical justifications. microsoft has defended the bundling and the chief financial officer john conners said at a software conference in arizona -- while the current case centers on the media player, the commission is also investigating a complaint lodged in february last year by an alliance of companies including sun microsystems, oracle, time warner and nokia, urging the e.u. to sanction microsoft for stifling competition in other software, including hand-held computers, wireless phones and email. the e.u. contends a settlement may still happen. competition commissioner mario monti telling reporters on monday. our sources saying that microsoft and the e.u. are deadlocked over the issue of the media player. chief financial officer connors also told the software conference that microsoft will post good absolute profit growth in the year beginning july 1 and went on to say “we won’t have the growth we had in the past years in revenue and profit, but should be able to deliver a decent year in terms of growth.” he would not quantify what he meant by the word “decent.” checking microsoft shares on the day, down 18 18 cents, .67%. companies competing against microsoft’s windows media player include realnetworks and apple computer with quicktime
