Feed: Slashdot
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Title: Microsoft Escapes EU Competition Probe by Unbundling Teams for Seven
Years, Opening API
Link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/09/14/0433205/m...
TechCrunch reports: Thanks to a pledge to unbundle its corporate messaging
app Teams from its productivity suites, Microsoft has managed to slip
unscathed through a major antitrust investigation by the European Commission
that could have resulted in massive fines for the tech giant. The Commission
on Friday okayed Microsoft's concessions to address the EU's competition
concerns over the company including Teams along with the rest of its Office
productivity suite for free, concluding a multi-year investigation that was
sparked by complaints from rival office messaging app Slack in 2020.
Microsoft has promised that for the next seven years, it will provide
Microsoft 365 and Office 365 without Teams at a lower price and will let
customers choose whether they want to pay more to add the collaboration app
to the suites... Microsoft is voluntarily offering some versions of both its
productivity suites without Teams at a 50% lower price compared to versions
that bundle the app, worldwide. And Microsoft dodged punitive measures and a
big fine, as the Commission's penalties for breaching competition rules can
reach up to 10% of annual global revenue - which, considering the tech giant
last year recorded $245 billion in revenue, would have been truckloads of
money. The article adds one more interesting detail. "The Commission has also
managed to get Microsoft to agree to open up its APIs to enable
interoperability for key features between its suite and third-party messaging
and collaboration tools, as well as let them export their data out of teams
for the next five years..." The Commission's official announcement says this
will "open up the market for other providers of communication and
collaboration tools in Europe." And Microsoft will also allow customers with
long-term licenses the option of switching to a suite switch without Teams...
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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