Microsoft faces antitrust scrutiny from the European Union over Teams, Office 365
The regulatory body has concerns regarding Microsoft's bundling of Teams and Office 365.
Microsoft and antitrust name a more frequent teamup
Yup. It's about time MS got some antitrust push back they've been getting relentless lately...
Edge is well into enshittification territory, it's gross to use. But the real monopoly practice is bing-ifying everything. They're using their OS monopoly to claw out monopolies in browsers and therefore AI search.
If they preinstalled a Firefox wrapper like the EU browser choice ballot they used to have, this would all go away in a heartbeat!
I'm dreaming, I know...
Literally had a meeting with someone yesterday who, after starting late because of trouble logging in and things crashing, started off the meeting by apologizing for using Teams but said it was just easier because it's the default. Made me chuckle.
Anyone who chooses Teams because they actually think it's better.. I just.. are we even using the same program?
It baffles me that companies the size of Microsoft can't nail UX. They have nigh-unlimited resources and just can't get software to work well in an environment that they themselves designed. I get that they will put the minimum amount of work into a product, so long as it's achieving it's goals, but companies this size have zero excuses for an app that doesn't work flawlessly.
Here's the thing - being bigger makes this much harder
Software is about vision - we learn methodologies and make all sorts of tools to enable collaboration, but one skilled and driven dev is always going to outperform a large team
It's a lot like painting murals. If you're making something big, you might want some helpers, but the painter is the guy with the vision, working on all the fine details. A few skilled people who have worked together for a long time might be able to do it together and you can make a design around the idea of collaboration, but generally you're going to get clashing styles
This is the same scam they tried to pull with Internet Explorer. They got hit with an Anti-Trust for that, you'd think they'd learn their lesson.
It’s just the cost of doing business for them, unfortunately.
They should look how much they force edge on you too.
Seriously, this is so ridiculous: So Slack filed a complain because their chat application looses against Teams?
I mean, Slack could have like innovated and make their application really, really good so that customers choose Slack over Teams because of the value it brings.
Instead they go the legal/lobbyist way and cry because a chat application obviously isn't a forever gold mine.
The EU being technically illiterate and dump enough to play along is even more ridiculous than Slacks entitlement.
(For the record: I don't like Teams, Office, Microsoft, Slack etc... but this is just such an obvious/bullshit lobbyist move.)
Slack did not file a complaint because they're losing. This is what it says in the article: Slack filed a complaint with the EU in 2020, claiming that Microsoft was "force installing [Teams] for millions, blocking its removal, and hiding the true cost to enterprise customers." And this is investigated 3 years later than the complaint. Microsoft has a history of installing bloatware and changing default clients to open with their own software.
I am referring to the motivation for Slack to file a complaint, look at the numbers (50 vs 300 millions) which clearly show that Slack is loosing. Do you seriously imply that Slack is filing their complaint to reduce bloatware? (In that case, I am happy to see Slack starting to debloat their client. :-P)
As I already said, I am no fan of Teams, Microsoft, etc. but IMHO by now everyone grown up can decide what messenger app to install, there is enough competition (Apple, Linux) on the desktop for people who want less/different bloatware.
I am just seriously tired of the EU investing time and energy in this bullshit instead of investing energy in important/useful topic for its citizens.
The problem is that Microsoft is in a position to push Teams in an unfair way. They bundle it with other software that their clients will already be using, thus making it the most convenient choice. Convenience is a huge deciding factor in what an organization adopts, since supporting a single software bundle can be much easier than many disparate ones. Leveraging your existing market share in an unrelated domain to edge out competitors in another is exactly why antitrust legislation exists.
Totally proper use of the law.
I agree with your points, but by that logic, Google (Android), Apple and all other smartphone/smart appliances provider should be sued, too. Think about FaceTime(?), Apple Safari (where they even force their shitty browser engine on iOS on you) etc.
If we all agree that this bundles are a problem, the solution is simply: Don't allow any bundling at all, for no one.
So a bundled union of 27 nations is raising concerns about the bundling of 2 office tools? The EU really seems to know where to put its priorities 🙄
The fuck kind of drugs you on? I'll have some.
Currently just a pale ale, happy to invite you if the bundling with the frog licking doesn't concern you.