AWS Exec Takes Microsoft to Task for Cloud Licensing Terms

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AWS Exec Takes Microsoft to Task for Cloud Licensing Terms

AWS’ SVP of Sales and Marketing is calling out Microsoft for its cloud licensing terms, despite the latter company’s recent changes.

Microsoft was slapped with an EU antitrust complaint, with smaller rivals claiming the company uses its desktop and office suite dominance to unfairly compete in the cloud market. The complaint alleges that it costs more for companies to use a third-party cloud provider, rather than bundling Windows and Office with Microsoft Azure. Microsoft has since vowed to change its licensing terms, but AWS’ Matt Garman says it’s not enough:

Customers and policy makers around the world increasingly see MSFT’s recent licensing rhetoric as a troubling admission of the same anti-competitive tactics that many companies have been raising with them for years, but went unheeded until they were put before the European Commission.

Garman goes to say that Microsoft is not really interested in doing what’s right for its customers and that the company continues to engage in discriminatory practices:

MSFT’s answer is not to do what’s right for customers and fix their policy so all customers can run MSFT’s software on the cloud provider they choose; but rather, under the pretext of supporting European technology needs, MSFT proposes to select cloud providers about whom it is less competitively concerned and allow MSFT software to run only on those providers. This is not fairness in licensing and is not what customers want. We continue to hear from customers around the world that MSFT’s discriminatory licensing practices are costing them millions of dollars and the freedom to work with whom they wish.

While it’s not uncommon for tech companies and executives to take shots at one another, Garman’s words are particularly pointed. It’s no secret that Microsoft Azure is a growing threat to AWS’ position in the market. As a result, it’s hard to tell whether Garman’s statements are borne out of genuine concern for customers or a larger concern over Azure’s growth in the market.

AWS Exec Takes Microsoft to Task for Cloud Licensing Terms
Matt Milano

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