In 1998, the US Department of Justice sued Microsoft for using its dominance of the Windows platform to suppress competition from rival web browsers. In the United States, antitrust is very powerful.
Since then, the company has relaxed its control over the software that computer manufacturers can install on their products, which has led to the increased popularity of rival Internet browsers.
And today’s news has something to do with it, as Microsoft has announced that it will separate the messaging and video enterprise application Teams from its Office software worldwide.
A measure that wants to avoid the monopoly fine
The company separated the two products in Europe last year due to a possible fine from competition regulatory bodies.
Teams was added to Office in 2017 and the European Commission has been investigating the move after a complaint from its rival Slack in 2020.
A Microsoft spokesperson told the BBC that the move is to “ensure clarity for our customers.” And that it also “addresses the comments from the European Commission by providing multinational companies with more flexibility when they want to standardize their purchases across all geographies.”
Microsoft stated in a blog post that Teams Standalone will cost $5.25 (4.20 euros) for new customers. But it is unclear whether the company’s decision to separate Teams from Office will be enough to avoid antitrust charges from the European Union (EU).
In the last decade, Microsoft has accumulated 2.2 billion euros (2.4 billion dollars) in EU antitrust fines for tying or bundling two or more products.
If found guilty of antitrust violations, you may face a fine of up to 10% of your global annual revenue.
After the separation of Teams from the Microsoft 365 and Office suites in Europe last October, the platform barely experienced changes in the size of its user base, according to market intelligence company Sensor Tower.
