Breaking: Google Drags Microsoft Before EU Over Cloud Practices

Google Drags Microsoft Before EU:

Technology giant, Google has filed a complaint to the European Commission E) raising issues over Microsoft.

Its complaint filed today, centre what it said were Microsoft’s (MSFT.O), anti-competitive practices to lock customers into Microsoft’s cloud platform Azure.

Google, whose biggest cloud computing rivals are Microsoft and Amazon Web Services, said Microsoft was exploiting its dominant Windows Server operating system to prevent competition.

Google Cloud Vice President Amit Zavery alleged that Microsoft was making customers pay a 400% mark-up to keep running Windows Server on rival cloud computing operators, asserting this as anti-competition practice.

On the other hand, this did not apply if they used Azure, even as users of rival cloud systems would also get later and more limited security updates, Zavery said.

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In making its complaint, Google referenced a 2023 study by cloud services organisation CISPE which found that European businesses and public sector bodies were paying up to 1 billion euros ($1.12 billion) per year on Microsoft licensing penalties.

Microsoft in July clinched a 20-million-euro deal to settle an antitrust complaint about its cloud computing licensing practices with CISPE, averting an EU investigation, said the Reuters report.

It added that the settlement did not include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform and AliCloud, prompting criticism from the first two companies.

Microsoft said it had settled amicably similar concerns raised by European cloud providers, adding that Google had hoped they would keep litigating.

“Having failed to persuade European companies, we expect Google similarly will fail to persuade the European Commission,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement.

Google said Microsoft had locked customers into using collaboration application Teams even when they preferred alternatives and was using the same playbook for Azure.

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“The time to act is now,” Zavery said.

Google Drags Microsoft Before EU

“The cloud market will get more and more restrictive if things don’t happen now.”

The Eagle reports that both Google and Microsoft, offer cutting edge products and services to the information technology industry.

Their products are usually peer to peer in service efficiency and top client’s orders.

Microsoft’s 365, also known as Office 365, and Google’s Workspace (formerly Google Workspace, share top ratings amongst users.

Both provide productivity solutions, even as the two corporations aim to offer a complete package of cloud-based applications and services for easier communication and collaboration.

“Both suites are powerful, reliable and offer several benefits to businesses of all sizes.”, observes Matt McDermott, who adds:

“Therefore, it can be extremely difficult to decide which productivity suite is the right fit for your business. In this article, we will compare the two suites, analyze their features, plans and pricing, and key differentiators to help you make the right choice”.