This is not the first time Microsoft has been accused of anti-competitive practices in recent months. “We want government to take action and force Microsoft to allow for a level playing field.” “This gives consumers a free choice,” the group said on its Coalition for a Level Playing Field website. It also asked the EU commission to support open standards and interoperability that make an easy migration possible. Nextcloud is demanding the EU stop Microsoft from “gate keeping” by bundling, pre-installing, or pushing Microsoft services for a level playing field. “This enables people to access their files from multiple devices and keeps documents and photos safe if a device breaks.” “People expect modern operating systems to provide secure and reliable cloud storage functionality whether they’re using a computer, tablet, or phone from any provider,” the spokesperson said. “The cloud services market is generally recognized to be of strategic importance to the development of the overall digital sector in the EU.”Ī Microsoft spokesperson said in an email response to Computerworld that the company makes “it easy for people to select and use other storage options instead of or in addition to OneDrive, and many people do. The European Commission should take a position in this context,” Nextcloud said. Other Big Tech firms are showing similar conduct. “There are deliberate, abusive practices and those practices are no accidents. “This should be addressed without any further delay.” “Behavior as described above is at the core of this dramatic level of growth of the global tech giants in Europe,” Karlitschek said. “It illustrates anti-competitive practices such as ‘self-preferencing’ on the basis of the market dominance of Windows.”įrank Karlitschek, CEO and founder of Nextcloud, also pointed out in his blog that over the last several years, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have grown their market shares to 66% of the total European market, while local European software and service providers have declined from 26% to 16%. This is what Nextcloud and other European firms are fighting against.Īt the current rate, Europe will have no independent local alternatives, which may end up becoming subsidiaries of American businesses.“Microsoft’s combination of the dominant Windows (operating software) with the OneDrive (cloud) offering makes it nearly impossible to compete with their SaaS services,” Nextcloud said in a blog post. ![]() While this dominance increases revenue for American companies, it also allows them to leverage their position to push their own services in related industries. This is yet another indication of how American firms are more desired. The UK recently made a deal with AWS for the creation of secure cloud storage for its security agencies. Windows, Android, macOS, and iOS are all from American firms. The runner-ups, such as IBM and Rackspace, are also American.Įven operating systems are largely US-based. If one looks at the best cloud hosting providers, the top three are AWS, Microsoft, and Google-all American-owned. Digital DominationĪmerican companies dominate the Western market to the detriment of European services. Slack recently filed a competition complaint against Microsoft over its integration of MS Teams into MS Office. Nextcloud isn’t the only cloud company with an anti-competitive grievance against Microsoft. ![]() Microsoft’s OneDrive is a solid storage solution, but healthy competition does tend to drive innovation. This, in turn, stopped nearly all innovation. Nextcloud’s CEO, Frank Karlitschek, says that this is “quite similar” to the way Microsoft killed the competition in the browser market 20 years ago. The firm says that Microsoft is locking out the competition by leveraging its position. At the same time, the market share of local providers has shrunk from 26% to 16%. Nextcloud points out that Microsoft has grown its market share to 66% in Europe. The cloud tech company asserts that by pushing customers to sign up for its products and hand over their data, Microsoft is limiting their choices. Joined by several nonprofit, open-source firms, Nextcloud leads the complaint. The Coalition is made up of various European cloud and software companies, including the European DIGITAL SME Alliance and the Document Foundation. It asserts that Microsoft’s aggressive promotion of its own apps is anti-competitive. The Coalition for a Level Playing Field has issued a complaint against Microsoft’s OneDrive Windows integration.
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