EU regulatory concerns have now forced Microsoft to unbundle Teams from Office. The company had earlier bundled its remote collaboration service with the Microsoft Office suite to compete with Slack. The Financial Times reports that Microsoft is trying to start the official EU antitrust investigation. The company has been dealing with its greatest regulatory concerns for over a decade.
Microsoft has bundled Teams with Microsoft Office Suite in a bid to bring more users to the platform. This is a great move for Microsoft, but it kills a good user experience. When users download the Microsoft Office Suite, they will have to buy Teams to keep things going.
With this move, companies and individuals will be able to buy Office without Teams. They will also have the option to buy Microsoft Teams with Office. Yet, we are not sure how this will work as the company is still in talks with EU regulators. Moreover, we do not have any clue whether the deal will work.
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Microsoft Unbundles Teams From Office As Talks With EU Regulators Continue…
Microsoft has been working on competing with the Slack for quite some time. Not to mention that Salesforce now owns Slack. In 2020, an EU regulatory complaint was filed to force Microsoft to sell Teams separately from the Office suite. At that time, Slack’s general counsel said,
“We ask the EU to be a neutral arbiter, review the facts and enforce the law.”
Microsoft is now facing its first regulatory case in a decade. The company agreed on a settlement with the European Commission in 2009, in which it agreed to offer its European customers a choice of web browsers. Later in 2013, the company was fined €561 million for failing to comply with the settlement rules.
In all of this, the company has been warm in its response. Microsoft says,
“We are mindful of our obligations in the EU as a major technology company. We continue to cooperate with the Commission in its investigation and are open to practical solutions that address its concerns and serve customers well.”
