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EU accuses Microsoft of antitrust violations for bundling Teams with O365 (www.theregister.com)

submitted 5 months ago by lemmee_in@lemm.ee to c/technology@lemmy.world

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Microsoft broke the European Union's antitrust regulations by "tying" collaboration tool Teams to its dominant online Office productivity suite, according to preliminary findings from an investigation begun in July 2023.

The EU's antitrust team informed the Redmond-based biz in a Statement of Objections document, and the company told The Register it is willing to make further concessions, thereby staving off the threat of possible legal action and potentially significant fines.

"Microsoft has been tying Teams with its core SaaS productivity applications, thereby restricting competition on the market for communication and collaboration products and defending its market position in productivity software and its suites-centric model from competing suppliers of individual software," the EC said in a statement.

"In particular, the Commission is concerned that Microsoft may have granted Teams a distribution advantage by not giving customers the choice whether or not to acquire access to Teams when they subscribe to their SaaS productivity applications.

"This advantage may have been further exacerbated by interoperability limitations between Teams' competitors and Microsoft's offerings. The conduct may have prevented Teams' rivals from competing, and in turn innovating, to the detriment of customers in the European Economic Area."

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[–] thirteene@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

It's a play by monopolys. They create a large platform (often free to start), integrate it with a bunch of other stuff, then charge you to use it. They can use the invested cost to leverage anyone on the platform, because it's often an expensive lengthy process to halt processes. The ruling is essentially stating that Microsoft either needs to allow non Microsoft accounts to chat on teams or allow you to remove your word subscription without affecting your email. Both of those are good things for consumers, but Microsoft wants to hold all of the cards on all sides, and start offering bundles like cable companies. All just to limit your options and squeeze you when they want more.