- Google Cloud has complained about Microsoft’s unfair licenses practices
- The rival cloud suppliers are forced to collect licenses, causing the supplier blocking
- Little has been done to solve the problem in 12 months, says Google Cloud
Google has published a new blog post reminiscent of the world that filed a formal complaint before the European Commission a year ago about Microsoft cloud license practices, but that has not yet done anything.
The company argues that Microsoft penalizes customers who run Windows Server and another software in rival clouds, such as their own Google cloud (GC), as well as AWS and others.
According to the complaint, Microsoft’s license rules make up to 5 times more expensive to transfer workloads to competitors, which essentially results in the blockage of suppliers.
Google is not dropping your Microsoft complaint
The problem is that Microsoft allows existing licenses in the first to transfer to Azure, but rivals such as Google Cloud require customers to buy new licenses, which adds to cost.
The competence and market authority of Great Britain (CMA) has already considered that Microsoft policies restrict the choice of cloud, but has not imposed any remedy. The Federal United States Commerce (FTC) also launched its own antitrust research in 2023.
Vice President of Government and Public Policies of GC, Marcus Jadotte and GC Europe, director of Government Affairs and Public Policies, Giorgia Abeltino said: “Restrictive cloud licenses have caused enormous damage to the global economy during the past year.”
Speaking about “the continuous risk of inaction”, Jadotte and Abeltino accused Microsoft of acquiring customers in “two or even three times the rate” of competitors.
In an attempt to strengthen its case and accelerate the action, the Google Cloud blog states that governments could unlock up to 1.2 billion euros in the EU additional GDP for the end of the decade, saving up to 450 billion euros per year in productivity earned.
Microsoft has already resolved similar concerns with European cloud suppliers, with a company spokesman who says Techradar Pro: “Microsoft established similarly similar concerns raised by European cloud suppliers, even after Google hoped they would continue to litigate. Having been able to persuade European companies, we hope Google similarly not persuaded the European Commission.”
