What you need to know
- Another complaint has been filed against Microsoft, this time of the EU antitrust variety (it was filed months ago but not publicly reported on).
- This is one more in a string of complaints lodged against Microsoft in Europe due to the company's various advantages and tactics.
- This most recent cloud-focused complaint comes from OVHcloud and several unnamed companies.
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 (via The 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 that company CEO Satya Nadella has claimed it's not about dominant market positions or lobbying efforts, but rather that "Microsoft is on the right side of history." The home of Windows 11 has faced EU complaints before, as well as negative attention from the UK, and it will likely deal with many more of these situations in the future.
