Three European cloud providers have sued Microsoft for unfair cloud practices. A comparison seems to be in the works.

French cloud provider OHV went before the European Commission to sue Microsoft in the summer of 2021, although the news only broke months later. According to OHV, Microsoft would mean unfair competition for European cloud providers. By bundling in the Microsoft 365 package, Microsoft can offer cloud services more cheaply, but according to the indictment it also means that the software works less well on platforms from other providers. As a result, customers who use it are more inclined to buy everything directly from Microsoft.

OHV’s lawsuit was also backed by Italian company Aruba SPA and a Danish advocacy group that advocates for on-premises cloud providers. The European Commission launched an investigation, the results of which are still pending a year later. Bloomberg writes that Microsoft chose eggs for its money and is trying to reach an agreement with prosecutors. According to the sources of the American news medium, an agreement is even close.

It is still unclear what exactly this regulation entails. The parties involved declined to comment to Bloomberg and Reuters. Microsoft already threw water into the game last summer by lowering licensing costs, allowing outside parties to offer cheaper Azure services. Whether that was enough to appease OHV and Co. will soon be seen.

Charges against teams

The settlement of this lawsuit will not exempt Microsoft from the European Commission. The Teams platform also has its sights set on Europe. The fact that Teams is part of the 365 bundle would give the platform an unfair advantage over other communication platforms, says Slack, among others.