Google files first ever complaint with European Commission against Microsoft

Google Cloud Platform has filed a complaint with the European Commission alleging Microsoft software licensing policies are anti-competitive, including claims customers are being charged four times more to run Windows Server in non-Azure clouds.

Some of the arguments have been heard by Reg readers for more than 15 months, with the issues first raised by Amit Zavery, Vice President and head of GCP, in 2023, when he exclusively spoke to The Register about a "software tax" he said businesses were being charged to run their on-premises licenses for the operating system in Google datacenters.

Today – in the first ever antitrust complaint Google has filed with the EC against Microsoft – he claimed the rival's "restrictive software licensing infringes on EU law and harms customers." The complaint was filed last night and we have seen a summary, but the full formal document will not be made public for some weeks.

"We believe this regulatory action is only way to end Microsoft vendor lock in and for customers to have a choice and create a level playing field for competitors," he added. "Microsoft strategy is simple. It leverages a software monopoly to lock customers into Azure."

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