2023-04-26 15:18:18
The European Commission has reportedly initiated an antitrust investigation into Microsoft and the integration of Teams into the Office suite. The American publisher would agree to separate the two solutions.
Under threat of an antitrust investigation, Microsoft has offered European regulators to stop integrating Teams with the Office software suite, according to Financial Times information reported by The Register.
Asked by the media specializing in tech, Microsoft said it was aware of its obligations in the European Union, confirming that it was cooperating with the investigation, remaining open “to pragmatic solutions that meet [aux] concerns and serve the interests of customers”.
At the origin of the procedures is in particular Slack which, before being bought by Salesforce, had filed a complaint because of the alleged anti-competitive practices of the Redmond firm. The Californian software publisher deeming it illegal to integrate Teams into the dominant Office suite in order to install the communication tool by force with millions of customers. According to sources at The Register, the industry has been buzzing with rumors in recent weeks suggesting that the European Commission will conduct an official investigation into Slack’s claims.
But separating Teams from the Office suite does not convince everyone. In particular, the Coalition of Fair Software Licensing said that Microsoft’s potential concession would not be enough to “address the legitimate concerns of customers and regulators regarding its restrictive software licensing practices”.
As a reminder, Microsoft recently lifted the veil on the new version of Teams.
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