Microsoft will remove its ‘Teams’ video conferencing application from its Office suite in Europe, the American software giant has announced. With this, the company makes an encore to the European Union, which has launched an investigation into unfair competitive practices by Microsoft.
Office includes the office programs Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook. As of October 1, the package in Europe will no longer include Teams, Microsoft said. The license is therefore slightly cheaper. In addition, Microsoft also promises smoother cooperation between its software programs and those of the competition.
The European Commission has launched a formal investigation since July to determine whether Microsoft has breached EU competition rules. The Commission sees “possible abuse of its dominant position in the software market”. More specifically, it is being investigated to what extent Teams is not favored over similar programs from the competition. The investigation came after a complaint from the American start-up Slack three years ago, which has since been taken over by Salesforce.
Even more complaints
If the investigation showed that Microsoft had violated competition rules, the group threatened another heavy fine. “We proactively announced changes that we hope address concerns. In the meantime, we will continue to cooperate with the Commission’s investigation,” the company said in a blog post.
In addition, there are two other complaints against Microsoft in the EU, which are related to the cloud licenses of the software group. One of the complaining parties is the German platform NextCloud GmbH.
Home work company Zoom sets the clock back: staff are expected back in the office
Be careful when making video calls: some apps use up to ten times more data than others
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and don’t miss a thing of the stars.