Google points out Microsoft's cloudy licensing still stinks

"Google is like a dog with a bone over Microsoft's cloud licensing policies, not letting Euro regulators forget about what it sees as anti-competitive practices that penalize those wanting to run Windows software on rival cloud platforms. The ad and cloud tech giant says it has been a year since it filed a formal complaint with the European Commission about Microsoft, and seems frustrated with the progress - or lack of it."

"In particular, Microsoft permits customers to reallocate on-prem licenses they hold for software such as Windows Server to cloud-based instances running on Azure - but those wanting to do the same on AWS or Google must pay for new licenses. This means it costs up to five times as much to move legacy workloads to a rival's cloud, Google claims, serving as a major incentive for companies to choose Azure instead."

"This hasn't escaped the attention of some regulatory authorities, with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) finding last year that Microsoft's licensing was restricting cloud choice, although it has yet to impose any measure to remedy this. The US Federal Trade Commission also kicked off an antitrust investigation into Redmond late last year. In Europe, the Cloud Infrastructure Service Providers in Europe (CISPE) trade group representing 27 cloud operators filed its own formal complaint with the European Commission over Microsoft's licensing in 2022."

Google filed a formal complaint with the European Commission a year ago alleging that Microsoft’s cloud licensing policies impose higher costs on customers who run Windows Server and SQL Server on rival cloud platforms. Microsoft allows customers to reallocate on‑premises licenses to Azure but requires new licenses for equivalent instances on AWS or Google Cloud, sometimes making migration up to five times more expensive and creating a strong incentive to choose Azure. The UK Competition and Markets Authority found that the licensing restricted cloud choice. The US Federal Trade Commission opened an antitrust investigation. CISPE filed and later withdrew a complaint after a deal and concessions from Microsoft.

Read at Theregister