Microsoft Keep trying to prevent the EU from imposing monopoly sanctions, so to try to content European regulators and get them to leave aside their concerns about competition with respect to the company, He has pledged to separate his collaboration tools and teams videoconference from his packages Office and mail Office 365 and Microsoft 365 for a minimum of seven years in the EU and the European Economic Space (EEA).
This separation of Teams from Office 365 and Microsoft 365 is among Redmond’s commitments to end the concerns they have about the direct relationship of Teams with their productivity and office tools.
According to Microsoft’s proposal, the company will make available to its customers in the area, for at least seven years, versions of Office 365 and Microsoft 365 without teams at a lower Price. In addition, it will allow its customers to change to the versions without Teams, even if they have contracts in force with the current editions of both packages that do include it.
Microsoft has also promised to offer Teams competitors greater interoperability with other Microsoft products, that is, to allow Teams to communicate better with other applications, and vice versa. In addition, it will allow its customers to pass their issues to other competition products.
Nanna-Louise Linde, Vice President of European Government Affairs of Microsofthe commented that «The proposed commitments are the result of constructive and good faith discussions with the European Commission over several months. We believe that they represent a complete and clear resolution of the concerns raised by our competitors, and will offer more choice possibilities to European clients«.
The European Union has been reviewing the union made by Microsoft from Teams to its Office productivity suite after the Slack courier apps had a legal complaint in 2020 about the abuse of market power that represented the inclusion of Teams in said package.
Microsoft has already made a proposal to separate Office Teams in 2023, offering to sell Microsoft 365 without the service with a discount on its original price. In addition, the supply of separation to users around the world extended, not only to those of the EU. This offer is now available for a few months, and according to the commitments acquired by Redmond, it will be in force for several years. Of course, the promise is still a means to try to close the teams disputes in the European Union, as well as try to avoid imposing a bulky fine by position and monopoly practices.
