A number of European companies, led by the file-hosting company Nextcloud, recently formed an alliance Coalition for a Level Playing Field to file a complaint with the European Union and German antitrust agencies, accusing Microsoft of abusing its dominant position in operating systems, including collaboration and cloud services. Unrelated field expansion.
The alliance said that Microsoft is integrating Microsoft 365 deeper and deeper into a broader service and software portfolio. The most typical example of this is the Windows system. The alliance stated that whenever Windows users deal with file storage, Microsoft’s OneDrive has the existing privileges in the Windows system and becomes a preference. Another example is Microsoft’s “Teams”, which was successfully introduced to the market as a default part of Windows 11.
They claim that it is almost impossible for Microsoft to combine its dominant Windows (operating software) with OneDrive (cloud) products to compete with their SaaS services. It illustrates anti-competitive practices such as self-recommendation based on Windows-based market dominance.
The effect is that when it comes to cloud storage, the market share of Microsoft, Google, and Amazon has grown to 66% of the total European market in the past few years, and local (European) suppliers have fallen from 26% to 16%. They claim that the above behavior is at the core of the rapid growth of global technology giants in Europe, very similar to the situation in which Microsoft bundled Internet Explorer with Windows in the late 1990s to destroy Netscape.
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Said Frank Karlitschek, CEO and founder of Nextloud.
This is very similar to what Microsoft did when it stifled competition in the browser market. It has almost stopped all browser innovations for more than a decade. Copy the innovator’s product, bundle it with your own dominant product, and stifle their business, then stop innovation. This behavior is detrimental to consumers, to the market, and of course, to local companies in the European Union. Together with other members of the alliance, we require European antitrust agencies to implement a level playing field, to give customers a free choice and a fair opportunity for competition.
Coalition for a Level Playing Field Coalition requirements
- Do not abuse Microsoft’s dominant position in the operating system and related markets (for example, by bundling, pre-installing or using additional Microsoft services), while maintaining a level playing field.
- Microsoft must support open standards and interoperability. This will provide European consumers with an opportunity to freely choose service products, which should compete fairly based on their advantages.