Teams will not be part of Microsoft's Office package in the European Union (EU), a decision that the technology has taken to avoid an antitrust investigation by community authorities. Users who want to continue using this chat will have to pay, a measure that could reduce its use among European Internet users.
According to the Financial Times, the tech giant has made the concession to avoid an investigation, following a complaint filed by Slack in 2020, in which it claimed that the practice of bundling the two services was anti-competitive.
"We ask the EU to be a neutral arbitrator, examine the facts and enforce the law," Slack's general counsel David Schellhase explains to this outlet. The complaint from this company coincided with the rise of teleworking, due to the restrictions imposed by the covid pandemic.
Microsoft seems willing to comply with community laws. "We are aware of our responsibilities in the EU as a major technology company. We continue to engage cooperatively with the commission in its investigation and are open to pragmatic views on solutions that address their concerns and serve customers well," the sources told the Financial. Times.
According to this information, when companies buy Office, the multinational's office suite of applications, they can do so with or without Teams if they wish. However, there are still several issues to be resolved, such as the price for the different services.
Microsoft has been under the scrutiny of the European Commission (EC) for some time. In 2008, the commission accused the Redmond-based company of taking advantage of its dominant position to push users to download its Internet Explorer browser by bundling it with Windows at the expense of rivals. The company assured that it would correct the practice, but this was not the case and the EU sanctioned it in 2013 with 561 million euros.
He is not the only regulator keeping an eye on Microsoft's steps. A few weeks ago, the UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) said it was especially concerned by identifying "interim features and practices that make it difficult for customers to switch to and use multiple cloud providers."
The British regulator said that only a group of companies would be controlling this market. “We have dived deep into the digital backbone of our economy and discovered some worrying practices, including by some of the world's biggest tech firms,” Ofcom director Fergal Farragher said.
“High barriers to switch are already hurting competition in what is a fast-growing market. We believe deeper scrutiny is needed to make sure it works well for the people and businesses that rely on these services."
