Google has told the European Commission (EC) that Microsoft’s licensing methods are unfair and attempt to force companies to stay on Microsoft’s Azure cloud infrastructure
The issue is about a change in licensing in 2019 that made it more expensive to use Windows Server software on clouds that are not Microsoft’s. The European not-for-profit trade group Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE) complained to the EC in 2022 about this change because it was unfair to competitors.
Reports say that Microsoft paid $22 million in July. It noted that CISPE users could run Windows Server more efficiently and for about the same price as Azure.
That deal didn’t include Google, one of Microsoft’s main cloud competitors, and AWS, the leader in the public cloud. This is what led the Alphabet subsidiary to take action.
The EU already has one case against Microsoft for antitrust violations. In June, the EU said the company unfairly packaged Teams with other popular work apps.