Google turns to EU over Microsoft’s cloud tactics

Google escalated a feud with Microsoft over cloud computing on Wednesday with a European Union antitrust complaint accusing its tech rival of anticompetitive practices.

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In a blog post, Google alleged Microsoft’s licensing practices lock business customers into using its Azure cloud computing platform.

It said Microsoft is the only cloud provider that uses such tactics, which stifles competition, costs businesses more and exposes them to bigger security risks.

Google, which competes against Microsoft with its Google Cloud services, said it filed a formal complaint with the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s executive branch and top antitrust enforcer.

Google said Microsoft changed its licensing terms in 2019 to impose ‘extreme financial penalties’ on businesses that want to use Windows Server software on rival services like Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services. That’s despite there being no technical barriers to switch services.

Locking in users to a single technology platform brings heightened security risks, Google said, pointing to a global tech outage in July.