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Google Exec Takes Aim At Microsoft Over EU Cloud Complaints
A Google executive is once again calling out Microsoft for charging EU customers more for its software if they use a competing cloud platform.
Microsoft has been under scrutiny in the EU for giving customers steep discounts on its various software offerings when they also use its Azure cloud platform, with rivals saying it amounts to antitrust violations on the part of the Redmond company. Microsoft has made some efforts to address the complaints, but critics say it’s not enough.
In an interview with The Register, Google Cloud VP Amit Zavery says antitrust regulators are finally “starting to understand the situation” and that he hopes they take action soon.
“Any enterprise company will be impacted negatively if things are not resolved properly,” he told The Register. “I think there should be appetite [from the regulators] and I think there should be movement in that area to really put some kind of checks and balances on Microsoft’s policies.”
According to Zavery, Microsoft currently charges customers as much as five times less for software license if they also use the company’s cloud platform.
“Microsoft publicly touts that if you run their software on Azure versus other vendors like AWS and GCP, it’s five times cheaper or it’s more expensive to run on us 5x basically because of the tax customers have to pay to Microsoft,” Zavery told The Register.
“The price of the products are the same in terms of infrastructure and everything else, so the licensing cost is more expensive because of using providers other than Azure,” he added.
Microsoft is eager to paint itself in a different light than many of its Big Tech rivals, demonstrating a willingness to proactively work with regulators. The company recently made concessions to how Teams is bundled, even signaling a willingness to charge for Teams rather than bundle it for free with Office.
The company may have to make even more concessions if it wants to maintain its image and head off potential EU antitrust investigations.
Google Exec Takes Aim At Microsoft Over EU Cloud Complaints
Matt Milano
from WebProNews https://ift.tt/gK3P52U
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