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Google announced on Wednesday that it lodged a complaint with the European Commission against Microsoft. The complaint alleges that Microsoft engages in "anti-competitive" licensing tactics to compel customers to utilize its cloud service.
Google said Microsoft had exploited business customers' reliance on "must have" software products such as Windows Server to compel them to use its Azure cloud platform. Microsoft has made it cost-prohibitive for clients to use Windows Server or other products on rival services, such as Google Cloud or Amazon's AWS, by marking up the price by 400 percent, Google charged.
"Microsoft's licensing terms restrict European customers from moving their current Microsoft workloads to competitors' clouds –- despite there being no technical barriers to doing so," Google Cloud vice president Amit Zavery said in a blog post co-signed by Google Cloud's Europe region president Tara Brady.
For businesses that use rival cloud platforms despite the cost, "Microsoft introduced additional obstacles over the last few years, such as limiting security patches and creating other interoperability barriers", Google said.
At a news conference, Zavery said Google wanted restrictions removed so that customers could use the cloud platform of their choice.
"We believe this regulatory action is the only way to end Microsoft vendor lock-in and for customers to have a choice and create a level playing field for competitors," Zavery said.
Google said Microsoft adopted the new licensing terms in 2019. "What Microsoft introduced in 2019 basically created this idea of not allowing choice to customers," Zavery said. A spokesperson at the European Commission, the EU's antitrust watchdog, confirmed that the complaint was received, adding that "We will assess under our standard procedures".
The complaint was filed on Tuesday. A Microsoft spokesperson said the company "settled amicably similar concerns raised by European cloud providers, even after Google hoped they would keep litigating".
Lewis Musonye
