“Cloud providers enjoy many options to provide cloud services to their customers using Microsoft software, whether purchased by the customer or the partner. Microsoft on the other hand, have yet to confirm on the complaint, but a spokesperson said, as opposed to OVHcloud’s claims, European cloud companies are in fact building successful businesses using Microsoft products. “Through abusing its dominant position, Microsoft undermines fair competition and limits consumer choice in the cloud computing services market,” a spokeswoman for OVHcloud told WSJ. That too is mainly attributed to its ‘playing-it-safe’ nature following its own antitrust battles two decades ago when the US Department of Justice and the EU sued Microsoft for its business practices. Microsoft in particular has been fortunate enough to have not been at the center of attention, unlike its fellow rivals. Otherwise, cloud service providers like Inc, Microsoft Corp and Alphabet Inc.’s Google are often lightly regulated compared with some other crucial industries. The lawsuit came amidst a heightened government oversight in the cloud market of late, especially when it comes to European policymakers and lawmakers. However, the monopoly allegations against Jobs' Mob are a little more obvious, direct and numerous.As reported by the Wall Street Journal quoting people familiar with the matter, the complaint focuses on the way Microsoft licenses its products, such as its Office productivity suite, “that may make it more expensive to use cloud services that compete with Microsoft’s Azure cloud.” The Tame Apple Press is making a big thin about this, because it fits the decades old narrative that Microsoft was the evil empire. This includes Abilian, an open-source software publisher DAASI, an open-source identity management company and Mailfence. Numerous businesses are also supporting Nextcloud's legal action. ![]() These include the European DIGITAL SME Alliance the Document Foundation, LibreOffice's backing organization and the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE). It has been joined by several open-source, non-profit organizations. The cloudy outfit is not doing it all alone. It has filed a request with the German antitrust authorities, the Bundeskartellamt, for an investigation against Microsoft and might file a similar complaint in France. Nextcloud is asking the European Commission's Directorate-General for Competition to prevent this sort of thing and keep the market competitive and fair for all players. This means that more specialised EU companies can't compete on merit, as the key to success is not a good product but the ability to distort competition and block market access. Nextcloud states that Microsoft has outright blocked other cloud service vendors by using its position as gatekeeper to extend its reach in neighbouring markets, pushing users deeper into its ecosystems. Nextcloud might have a bit of difficulty making this allegation stick as self-preferencing is not illegal under EU competition laws, unless Microsoft can be seen abusing its dominant market position. ![]() Microsoft has done this not by any technical advantage or sales benefits, but by heavily favouring its own products and services, self-preferencing over other services. Microsoft has grown its EU market share to 66 percent, while local providers' market share declined from 26 percent to 16 percent. Nextcloud claims that by pushing consumers to sign up and hand over their data to Microsoft, the Vole is limiting consumer choice and creating an unfair barrier for other companies offering competing services. Now European open-source cloud company Nextcloud does has formally complained to the European Commission about Microsoft's anti-competitive behaviour by aggressively bundling its OneDrive cloud, Teams, and other services with Windows 10 and 11. For those with memories who have not been shot by years of alcohol, hookers and blow and computer games, Vole spent the late '90s and early '00s in antitrust trouble forcing Internet Exploder browser on its customers.
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