Microsoft may charge different prices for Office with or without Teams

Microsoft is putting guardant a scheme to complaint customers different prices for Office if it does aliases doesn’t travel pinch Teams - nan latest twist successful its run to caput disconnected an EU antitrust probe astatine nan pass.

Last month, sources said nan Redmond-based biz was considering whether to stop bundling Teams pinch Office pursuing complaints by respective businesses, including Slack, that Microsoft had tied nan messaging app to its marketplace ascendant productivity suite, forcing it connected customers, locking retired rivals and obfuscating nan costs for users.

The proposal was that Microsoft would untether nan app that comes pinch Microsoft 365 aliases Office 365. Now nan conception projected is, according to Reuters, for nan package elephantine to tweak nan value lists.

Asked astir nan latest concession, understood to beryllium offered to nan title regulators pinch nan EU, a Microsoft spokesperson sent america nan aforesaid statement arsenic it utilized past month.

“We are mindful of our responsibilities successful nan EU arsenic americium awesome exertion company. We proceed to prosecute cooperatively pinch nan Commission successful its investigation and are unfastened to pragmatic solutions that reside its concerns and service customers well.

Back successful 2020 during its pre-Salesforce ownership days, Slack didn’t clasp backmost successful its criticism of really Microsoft was trying to up maturation rates for Teams. Slack said it revenge a title compliant to nan EC against its rival, saying it “simply wants adjacent title and a level playing field.”

A spokesperson astatine nan EU told The Register today: “We person received respective complaints regarding Microsoft, including by Slack regarding Microsoft’s behaviour successful narration to its Teams product. The appraisal is ongoing truthful we can’t remark further.”

We asked Slack genitor Salesforce to remark but it refused past period and declined to remark connected our latest request.

Other complaints revenge pinch nan EU see several by Nextcloud, a German unreality supplier that is unhappy pinch nan measurement Microsoft bundles OneDrive pinch nan Windows OS; and cases brought by OVHcloud, Danish Cloud Community and Aruba S.p.a. The past 3 pertained to complaints astir Microsoft’s policies for package licensing successful nan unreality and were settled confidentially successful March.

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A root adjacent to nan matter said Microsoft is trying to tidy things up pinch individual businesses, “we don’t judge concealed unilateral offers are nan measurement to lick sector-wide issues.”

“Any statement must beryllium principle-based and use to each unreality infrastructure providers operating successful Europe,” they said, and it “must use each customers successful Europe… Any colony must beryllium transparent and clear, unfastened to scrutiny, future-proof and auditable for compliance complete time.”

Good luck pinch that. The German title authorities are besides inspecting nan power of Microsoft successful nan country, initiating proceedings successful March, but nan matter is ongoing and nan Bundeskartellamt refused to remark today.