The global harms of restrictive cloud licensing, one year later

A year ago today, Google Cloud filed a formal complaint with the European Commission about Microsoft’s anti-competitive cloud licensing practices — specifically those that impose financial penalties on businesses that use Windows Server software on Azure’s biggest competitors. 

Despite regulatory scrutiny, it’s clear that Microsoft intends to keep its restrictive licensing policies in place for most cloud customers. In fact, it’s getting worse. 

As part of a recent earnings call, Microsoft disclosed that its efforts to force software customers to use Azure are “not anywhere close to the finish line,” and represented one of three pillars “driving [its] growth.” As we approach the end of September, Microsoft is imposing another wave of licensing changes to force more customers to Azure by preventing managed service providers from hosting certain workloads on Azure’s competitors.

Regulators have taken notice. As part of a comprehensive investigation, the U.K.’s ...