Microsoft ‘cooperating’ with Japanese antitrust probe

Microsoft ‘cooperating’ with Japanese antitrust probe Looks like the same cloudy software licenses that offend Europe may be in play Microsoft is “fully cooperating” with a probe by Japan’s Fair Trade Commission, which wants to know if the software giant has violated the nation’s anti-monopoly laws.

News of the probe broke yesterday in Japanese outlet Nikkei, which reported a raid on Microsoft’s Japanese office.

The Register asked Microsoft to comment on the matter, and a spokesperson told us “We are fully cooperating with the JFTC in their requests."

According to Nikkei, those requests relate to the way Microsoft licenses its software to run on clouds other than its own Azure service.

In other parts of the world, Microsoft has offered deep discounts for its own software – especially Windows Server and SQL Server – when users deploy it on Azure but effectively charges more to run it in rivals ...