Google files antitrust complaint with EU over Microsoft’s cloud practices

Google has filed an antitrust complaint with EU regulators, accusing Microsoft of unfair licensing agreements for its Azure cloud services. Google, which ranks third behind Microsoft and Amazon in the cloud market, says Microsoft uses licensing terms that make it difficult and expensive to use Windows Server and Office products on non-Azure cloud infrastructure.

Reuters Google Cloud VP Amit Zavery reportedly told reporters that Microsoft had been charging customers a 400% markup to continue using Windows Server on competing cloud providers, but that charge did not apply to Azure.

Google’s complaint comes just months after Microsoft reached a settlement with an industry group backed by European cloud infrastructure providers that had similar concerns about Microsoft’s licensing practices. The group, Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE), agreed to drop its 2022 complaint to the EU in a deal that allows European cloud providers to offer Microsoft’s apps and services on local cloud infrastructure. Google, of course, was not on that list.

CISPE is also in the process of creating an independent European Cloud Observatory (ECO), comprising Microsoft, European cloud infrastructure providers and European customer associations. Amazon Web Services criticized the deal in July, saying Microsoft was making only “limited concessions for some CISPE members that demonstrate there are no technical barriers preventing it from doing what is right for every cloud customer.”

Naturally, Microsoft is not happy with Google’s complaint. “Microsoft has settled similar issues raised by European cloud providers, even after Google hoped they would continue to sue,” Microsoft spokesperson Robin Koch said in a statement to The Verge“Having failed to convince European companies, we believe that Google will also fail to convince the European Commission.”

Microsoft is also facing antitrust scrutiny over its cloud practices in the United Kingdom, where regulators are investigating Microsoft and Amazon’s cloud licensing practices. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating Microsoft, Amazon and Google’s investments in artificial intelligence and how they relate to cloud services.