Microsoft targeted by EU antitrust complaint alleging its cloud business ‘undermines fair competition’
Some argue Microsoft is too competitively advantaged in the cloud space.
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What you need to know
Microsoft’s cloud business is yet another item in the company’s roster of products to attract antitrust scrutiny. The freshly reported instance comes from OVHcloud, which claims it filed a complaint alongside other companies, though OVHcloud declined to name said companies.
It’s said that the core of the complaint is thus: Due to the way Microsoft licenses Office, it’s cheaper to go with Azure than it is other cloud offerings (viaThe Wall Street Journal). Here is what a spokeswoman for OVHcloud had to say: “Through abusing its dominant position, Microsoft undermines fair competition and limits consumer choice in the cloud computing services market.”
Microsoft had its own statement. “Cloud providers enjoy many options to provide cloud services to their customers using Microsoft software, whether purchased by the customer or the partner,” a company spokesperson said. “We’re continuously evaluating how we can best support partners and make Microsoft software available to customers across all environments, including those of other cloud providers.”
Microsoft is known for walking between the raindrops when it comes to legal scrutiny, so much so thatcompany CEO Satya Nadella has claimedit’s not about dominant market positions or lobbying efforts, but rather that “Microsoft is on the right side of history.” The home ofWindows 11has facedEU complaints before, as well asnegative attention from the UK, and it will likely deal with many more of these situations in the future.
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Robert Carnevale is the News Editor for Windows Central. He’s a big fan of Kinect (it lives on in his heart), Sonic the Hedgehog, and the legendary intersection of those two titans, Sonic Free Riders. He is the author ofCold War 2395. Have a useful tip? Send it to robert.carnevale@futurenet.com.
