Google accuses Microsoft of anticompetitive practices in Azure cloud

Googlewhich spent years defending itself against allegations of monopolistic behavior across the US and Europe, has gone public with its own complaint of anti-competitive practices by a longtime rival Microsoft.

In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday, Google alleged that Microsoft uses unfair licensing terms to “lock customers in” to exercise control over the cloud computing market.

The letter was sent in response to an extensive Federal Trade Commission response Comment request on potentially anti-competitive actions in the cloud industry. An FTC spokesperson declined to comment further.

Google singled out Microsoft in the complaint, arguing that with its dominant Windows Server and Microsoft Office products, the company could make it difficult for its huge customer list to use anything but its Azure cloud infrastructure offering. Google described Microsoft’s licensing restrictions as a “complex web” that prevents companies from diversifying their enterprise software vendors.

Google has also said that such control is a significant national security and cybersecurity risk. It highlighted successive cyberattacks involving Microsoft products, including the SolarWinds hack. Both Microsoft and Google have active online security practices that respond to and scan for cyber threats.

Google is no stranger to antitrust concerns. In January, the Justice Department filed its second antitrust lawsuit against Google in just over two years, targeting its advertising business.

The department’s previous lawsuit, filed in October 2020 under the Trump administration, accused Google of using monopolistic power to cut off competition for Internet search through exclusionary agreements. The case is expected to go to trial in September.

Google also faces three other antitrust lawsuits from large groups of state attorneys general, including one focused on its advertising business led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

In the FTC letter, Microsoft also claimed that Oracle practices harmful to customers.

“With highly complex agreements that seek to constrain customers to their ecosystems,” Google said, companies like Microsoft and Oracle “not only force customers into a monolithic cloud model but also limit options, increase costs for customers, and disrupt the growth and prosperity of digital ecosystems in the United States and around the world.”

In the 1990s, Microsoft was involved in one of the most high-profile antitrust cases in US history. The company was Accused using its dominance in desktop software to drive consumers to the Internet browser, eliminating competition from startups such as Netscape. The government won the case, eventually forcing Microsoft to allow PC makers to use the company’s other browsers.

He watches: Microsoft’s earnings can reach $500 in five to seven years