The German company Nextcloud wants to defend itself against the alleged dominant position of IT group Microsoft. The focus here is on cloud services.
Is Microsoft violating antitrust law?
With its Windows operating system, Microsoft has undoubtedly acquired a true monopoly position in recent years. Now accusations are being made that the US company is also exploiting this position in the area of its cloud services. These were raised by the German cloud provider Nextcloud. Nextcloud contacted the German Federal Cartel Office and asked it to investigate whether Microsoft has a monopoly position. The complaint is no coincidence. After all, both companies are in direct competition with each other in many respects. But what exactly is Nextcloud complaining about? The accusation focuses on the marketing of Microsoft Office.
The U.S. company is said to offer very targeted package solutions in order to bring several products to the customer at the same time. This leads to Microsoft being ahead in the entire Office area. No matter whether word processing, video conferencing or cloud solution. Those who choose Microsoft Office often go for the complete package. Nextcloud CEO Frank Karlitschek made it clear in a statement that One Drive in particular is a thorn in the side of the German company. Microsoft regularly refers to its own cloud solution in Windows. Other market participants would thus be deprived of the chance of fair competition.
David versus Goliath
The timing of Nextcloud could hardly be better. After all, large Internet corporations from the U.S. are currently under particular scrutiny in Europe. Certainly, the German Federal Cartel Office will also take the complaint as an opportunity to examine in detail whether Microsoft is acting in a legally questionable manner. In an interview with DER SPIEGEL, Karlitschek made the following comments:
“Microsoft abuses its Windows monopoly position to push its own cloud services into the market”
Let’s see if Nextcloud is successful with its complaint. Since the provider provides, among other things, the “Bundescloud” for German authorities, the Stuttgart-based company is by no means an unknown quantity. We will keep you posted on further developments.
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