Google Cloud is calling out Microsoft for what it calls “a very anti-competitive posture in cloud.”
Despite trying to distance itself from its Big Tech rivals and paint itself as willing and eager to work with regulators, Microsoft has drawn complaints in the EU regarding its cloud practices. Smaller cloud rivals say the company has tied its cloud pricing to its other products, making it difficult for other companies to compete with it.
Microsoft was hit with an EU antitrust complaint from its smaller rivals a year ago, and the company has since taken steps to address the complaint. Despite its efforts, Microsoft’s rivals maintain there are “serious unresolved issues,” and the company is “irreparably damaging” the EU cloud market.
Google is joining the fray, saying Microsoft is anti-competitive, according to Reuters.
“Microsoft definitely has a very anti-competitive posture in cloud. They are leveraging a lot of their dominance in the on-premise business as well as Office 365 and Windows to tie Azure and the rest of cloud services and make it hard for customers to have a choice,” Google Cloud Vice President Amit Zavery said in an interview late Wednesday.
“When we talk to a lot of our customers, they find a lot of these bundling practices, as well as the way they create pricing and licensing restrictions, make it difficult for them to choose other providers,” he added.
Meanwhile, a Microsoft spokesperson told the outlet the company trusts the EU’s process.
“We are committed to the European Cloud Community and their success,” the spokesperson told Reuters Thursday.
