Subj : Microsoft admits it might have to make cutbacks on Teams and Offi
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Thu Jun 06 2024 11:15:05

Microsoft admits it might have to make cutbacks on Teams and Office following 
EU lawsuits

Date:
Thu, 06 Jun 2024 09:59:32 +0000

Description:
Additional steps will likely be needed by Microsoft to pacify EU antitrust 
regulators when it comes to its Teams-Office bundling.

FULL STORY
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Microsoft has indicated it may need to take additional steps to address the 
European Commissions antitrust investigation into its bundling of Teams with 
Office. 

The ongoing battle stems from a complaint made by Slack in 2020 which accused 
Microsoft of abusing its market dominance by illegally tying Teams to its 
productivity suite to stifle competition. 

To address the concerns, Microsoft recently unbundled its video conferencing 
app from Office, but it looks like the company may now need to do even more. 
Microsoft antitrust challenges 

Facing regulatory scrutiny and potential fines, Microsoft committed to 
unbundling Teams from Office in the EU. In April, the company extended its 
unbundling efforts globally, potentially in anticipation of further 
complaints in other countries. 

Speaking to reporters in Brussels (via The Register ), Microsoft President 
Brad Smith stated: I expect we will take additional steps. 

Smith continued: On Teams, we have done a lot of work, our work isn't yet 
done. Microsoft is committed to find a resolution to regulators' concerns. 

Microsoft has confirmed Smiths remarks but did not elaborate on what these 
additional steps might entail. A spokesperson for the European Commission 
also confirmed that the investigation into whether Microsoft breached EU 
competition rules is ongoing. 

Currently, customers can choose to continue with the bundled Office and 
Teams, remove Teams fro their licenses for a discount, or purchase Teams as a 
standalone product. 

Despite potential further changes to its licensing and product strategies, 
Teams has already gained itself a leading position in the market. The impact 
of any changes on Teamss 320 million monthly active users might not be as 
drastic as rivals, like Slack, had hoped. 

More broadly, Redmond isnt just under the microscope for Teams. Rivals 
companies AWS (which accounts for around one-third of the cloud market, 
putting it in first position) and Google have also lodged complaints about 
similar unfair strategies conducted by Microsofts cloud business. More from 
TechRadar Pro Check out the best online collaboration tools around today Weve 
rounded up a list of the best productivity apps on offer Microsoft Teams is 
facing more antitrust lawsuits in Europe



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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/microsoft-admits-it-might-have-to-make-cutbacks-
on-teams-and-office-following-eu-lawsuits


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