Slack is Ongoing Archivesaccusing Microsoft of breaking antitrust law in the European Union by bundling its competing business chat service, Microsoft Teams, with Office, and is calling on European regulators to investigate.
“Microsoft has illegally tied its Teams product into its market-dominant Office productivity suite, force-installing it for millions, blocking its removal, and hiding the true cost to enterprise customers,” San Francisco-based Slack said in a statement.
Slack's accusation echoes the antitrust case Microsoft faced two decades ago in the US over bundling Internet Explorer with the Windows operating system while giving customers no option to uninstall it. The Justice Department sued in 1998, claiming the bundling helped the tech giant achieve an illegal monopoly in the browser market.
The case led a U.S. judge to order the breakup of Microsoft. However, the ruling was later overturned for a lesser penalty that only forced the company to open access to its software APIs.
In the EU, regulators also scrutinized Microsoft’s practice of bundling IE into Windows. The effort culminated in an antitrust settlement in 2009 that required the company for five years to offer consumers a choice on the browser they’d like to install when booting up the Windows OS for the first time.
“We’re asking the EU to be a neutral referee, examine the facts, and enforce the law,” said Slack’s general counsel David Schellhase. “Microsoft is reverting to past behavior. They created a weak, copycat product and tied it to their dominant Office product, force installing it and blocking its removal, a carbon copy of their illegal behavior during the ‘browser wars.’”
Slack says it threatens Microsoft’s lock on enterprise software. But Microsoft says the competition complaint is without merit. According to Redmond, consumers are flocking to Microsoft Teams not due to any bundling, but because the product has strong video conferencing features.
“We created Teams to combine the ability to collaborate with the ability to connect via video, because that’s what people want,” Microsoft told PCMag in a statement. “With COVID-19, the market has embraced Teams in record numbers while Slack suffered from its absence of video-conferencing. We’re committed to offering customers not only the best of new innovation, but a wide variety of choice in how they purchase and use the product.”
PCMag asked Slack whether it's filing any antitrust action against Microsoft in the US. In response, the company said: “We have ongoing conversations with US policymakers and regulators, and those conversations continue. We’ve talked and will continue to talk with regulators and law-makers in the markets in which we operate.”
On July 27, the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google will testify before the House Judiciary Committee during a hearing about competition in the digital marketplace.
Topics Microsoft
Best iPhone deal: Save $147 on the iPhone 15 Pro Max
TikTok is reviving the 2014 Tumblr
Notes on Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year
Barry Gifford’s Novels Find a New Generation of Readers
Boeing's new VR simulator immerses astronauts in space training
On Samuel Rutherford Crockett and the Word “Draffsack”
Wordle today: Here's the answer and hints for September 7
AI anxiety and employee monitoring: Workplace stress mounts
Get Rid of Windows 10 Ads, Office Offers and Other Annoyances
Barry Gifford’s Novels Find a New Generation of Readers
Nintendo Switch 2 release date, price announced
William Meredith’s “Parents” by Dan Piepenbring
McCall’s Giant Golden Make
The Morning News Roundup for December 8, 2014
How to Settle Down with Dystopia
A Letter from Delmore Schwartz to James Laughlin
A Marvelous Crutch: An Interview with Brad Zellar
The Morning News Roundup for November 21, 2014
Anker raises Amazon prices amid US tariffs
Facebook is 'Meta' now and the internet is obviously dunking on it
Beware Usen’t To by Dan PiepenbringAnnouncing The Paris Review’s 2014 Spring RevelRecapping Dante: Canto 17, or Dante Goes to Los Angeles by Alexander AcimanShelby Foote on Charles Dickens, Born Today in 1812Céline and This Walking Cup of Ramen Both Know True HardshipSadie Stein on R. S. Thomas’s poem “Luminary”The Morning News Roundup for January 30, 2014This Month’s Most Expensive eBooksRecapping Dante: Canto 16, or the Pilgrim’s Progress by Alexander AcimanSadie Stein on Decorator Dorothy DraperSadie Stein on Decorator Dorothy DraperRiver of Fundament by Andy BattagliaSave New York’s Rizzoli BookstoreThe Morning News Roundup for February 12, 2014The Morning Roundup for January 23, 2014Our Subscription Deal with McSweeney's Is Worth Bragging AboutAnnie Dillard and Co. Sing in the Everly Brothers, Circa 1995Remembering Maxine Kumin by Dan PiepenbringA Poem by Howard Moss, Born Today in 1922T. S. Eliot’s Darker Side, A Poem by Maxine Kumin, and Other News Twitter's co The art of transforming 'Minecraft' into 'Minecraft Dungeons' 'Homecoming' Season 2 is the thrilling epilogue we don't need: Review J.K. Rowling got drunk and asked Twitter to explain Bitcoin Twitter tests feature that limits who can respond to tweets 'Apple Glass' could start at $499 with support for prescription lenses HBO Max will finally #ReleaseTheSnyderCut of 'Justice League' Multiple bombshells hit Trump after he boards plane, internet asks #HasDonaldLandedYet 'Paddington' villain Hugh Grant eats humble marmalade for a good cause Zuckerberg says Facebook is ready to profit from shift to remote work Chrome's newest update brings revamped safety controls, tab groups Google's Search app adds dark mode setting for Android and iOS Steve Carell's photo taped over real Space Force chief in clever museum prank Everything coming to Hulu in June 2020 Note to Comey: Avoiding a hug from Trump takes practice. Just ask Hillary Clinton How to turn off FaceTime's resizing bubbles with iOS 13.5 Samsung Galaxy Note 20 to be launched in August at online event, report says Mother's post about how 'easy' a c Hulu is rolling out a big app redesign inspired by Disney+ Coronavirus and the power of playing games
2.5739s , 10133.546875 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【Ongoing Archives】,Exquisite Information Network