Grab your popcorn as Microsoft lands in hot water again with the EU for its 'insufficient' changes to how it bundles Teams
The everlong battle between Microsoft and the European Commission gained a fresh page in its annals, as not only does the Commission believe the software giant has breached EU antitrust laws, but it also finds changes to how Microsoft distributes Teams to be «insufficient to address its concerns» and that «more changes to [its] conduct are necessary to restore competition.»
That's according to a recent statement by the European Commission (EC), in which it reports its preliminary findings in an antitrust investigation into Microsoft and its cloud-based communication application, Teams. That all kicked off when Slack Technologies (now owned by Salesforce) lodged a complaint with the EC in 2020, in which it alleged that Microsoft had illegally tied Teams to its productivity software packages.
Three years later, the EC opened an investigation as to whether Microsoft was in breach of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, essentially a law that prohibits companies from abusing a dominant position in the EU market. Around the same time, Alphaview (a developer of video-conferencing software) also lodged a similar complaint, and the EC has decided to adjust the investigation so that it covers both allegations.
In its statement, the Commission writes that Microsoft has been «restricting competition on the market for communication and collaboration products» and that the changes Microsoft had put into place when the EC commenced its investigation are «insufficient to address its concerns and that more changes to Microsoft's conduct are necessary to restore competition.»
The changes in question were quite simple: Microsoft stopped including Teams with its Microsoft 365 and Office 365 subscriptions for Switzerland and countries in the European Economic Area (EEA). It also adjusted its software to allow companies, such as Zoom and Slack, to create integrated solutions for products like Exchange, Outlook and, of course, Teams.
However, the European
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