Google reminds regulators it complained about Microsoft's cloud practices a year ago - but says nothing has been done

Date:
Fri, 26 Sep 2025 09:46:09 +0000

Description:
One year ago Google Cloud complained about Microsoft - and now its reminding
us of that.

FULL STORY

Google has published a new blog post reminding the world it filed a formal complaint with the European Commission one year ago over Microsofts cloud licensing practices, but that nothing still has been done.

The company argues Microsoft penalizes customers who run Windows Server and other software on rival clouds, like its own Google Cloud (GC) as well as AWS and others.

According to the complaint, Microsofts licensing rules make it up to 5x more expensive to move workloads to competitors, essentially resulting in vendor lock-in.

Google isnt dropping its Microsoft complaint

The problem is Microsoft allows existing on-prem licenses to transfer to
Azure, but rivals like Google Cloud require customers to buy new licenses, which adds to the cost.

Britains Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has already deemed that Microsofts policies restrict cloud choice , but it has not yes imposed any remedies. Americas Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also launched its own antitrust investigation in 2023 .

GC VP of Government Affairs and Public Policy Marcus Jadotte and GC Europe Senior Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy Giorgia Abeltino
noted: Restrictive cloud licensing has caused an enormous amount of harm to
the global economy over the last year.

Speaking about the ongoing risk of inaction, Jadotte and Abeltino accused Microsoft of acquiring customers at two or even three times the rate of competitors.

In a bid to strengthen its case and speed up action, the Google Cloud blog claims governments could unlock up to 1.2 trillion in additional EU GDP by
the end of the decade, saving up to 450 billion per year in gained productivity.

Microsoft has already settled similar concerns with European cloud providers, with a company spokesperson telling TechRadar Pro : "Microsoft settled
amicably similar concerns raised by European cloud providers, even after
Google hoped they would keep litigating. Having failed to persuade European companies, we expect Google similarly will fail to persuade the European Commission."

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/google-reminds-regulators-it-complained-about-mi crosofts-cloud-practices-a-year-ago-but-says-nothing-has-been-done

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