- Google Cloud complains about Microsoft’s unfair license practices
- Rivaux cloud suppliers are forced to charge licenses, causing suppliers to lock
- Little was done to solve the problem in 12 months, says Google Cloud
Google has published a new blog article reminding the world that he filed an official complaint with the European Commission a year ago on Microsoft’s Cloud license practices, but that nothing has yet been done.
The company maintains that Microsoft penalizes customers who perform Windows Server and other software on rival clouds, such as its own Google Cloud (GC) as well as AWS and others.
According to the complaint, Microsoft’s license rules have up to 5 times more expensive to move the workloads to competitors, which essentially leads to supplier locking.
Google does not drop its Microsoft complaint
The problem is that Microsoft allows existing on -site licenses to transfer to Azure, but rivals like Google Cloud demand that customers buy new licenses, which adds to the cost.
The British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has already considered that Microsoft’s policies restrict the choice of cloud, but it has not imposed remedies. The American Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also launched its own antitrust investigation in 2023.
GC vice-president of government and public policy GCs Marcus Jadotte and the main Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy for GC Europe, Giorgia, Abeltino, noted: “The restrictive cloud license caused a huge amount of prejudice to the global economy over the year.”
Speaking of the “continuous risk of inaction”, Jadotte and Abeltino accused Microsoft of having acquired customers at “two or even three times the rate” of competitors.
In order to strengthen its case and accelerate the action, Google Cloud’s blog claims that governments could unlock up to 1.2 euros of additional GDP by the EU by the end of the decade, which saves up to 450 billion euros per year in productivity.
Microsoft has already settled similar concerns with European cloud suppliers, with a company spokesperson saying Techradar Pro: “Microsoft has settled as amicably the similar concerns raised by European cloud suppliers, even after Google hoped that they would continue to plead. Having failed to persuade European companies, we expect Google will not allow the European Commission to persuade.”
