Enlarge / Microsoft says its latest cloud licensing terms are meant to give customers more flexibility and cost control—just not on Amazon, Google, or Alibaba servers. (credit: Getty Images)
Facing European antitrust scrutiny, Microsoft has made it easier to virtualize its software on non-Microsoft cloud infrastructure—just so long as that infrastructure isn’t owned by notable competitors Amazon, Google, or Alibaba.
The conflict, months in the making, is striking for a company that has largely avoided the antitrust scrutiny of its rivals, and eagerly sought to distance itself from the anti-competitive complaints and government actions that beset Microsoft in the late 1990s.
Microsoft outlined the changes that would take effect on October 1 in a blog post. Nicole Dezen, chief partner officer, wrote that Microsoft “believes in the value of the partner ecosystem” and changed outsourcing and hosting terms that “will benefit partners and customers globally.”
