On November 30, local time, according to media reports, Google called on British antitrust regulators to take action against Microsoft。Google says Microsoft's business practices have put competitors at a serious disadvantage。

Microsoft and Amazon have long faced increasing scrutiny around the world for their dominance of the cloud computing industry, and regulators in the UK, EU and US are investigating their market power.。

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a survey of the UK cloud computing industry in October this year, and the findings highlighted the dominance of Amazon and Microsoft in the market.。

By 2022, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft's Azure will account for 70-80% of the UK public cloud infrastructure services market.。Google's cloud division is close behind, with a market share of about 5-10%。

Now Google can't sit still。In a letter submitted to the CMA, Google said Microsoft's licensing restrictions unfairly discourage customers from using rival services, even as a secondary provider of Azure.。

"Due to Microsoft's licensing restrictions, UK customers have no choice but to use Azure as their cloud service provider, even if they prefer the price, quality, security, innovation and features of their competitors."。"

Google argues that such practices directly harm customers and are the only significant obstacle to competition in the UK cloud computing market.。

Microsoft updated its licensing rules last year to address such issues and promote competition, but the moves have not pleased competitors.。

In response, a Microsoft spokesperson said the company has partnered with independent cloud providers to solve problems and provide opportunities, and more than 100 independent cloud providers around the world have taken advantage of these opportunities.。

A Microsoft spokesperson said: "The latest independent data shows that competition among cloud hyperscale providers remains healthy.。Microsoft believes that in the second quarter of 2023, Microsoft and Google achieved equally small gains, compared with AWS, which continued to maintain its global market leadership with a substantial advantage.。

Amit Zavery, vice president of Google Cloud, criticized Microsoft's approach in an interview and said his company is committed to a multi-cloud approach where customers can easily switch between providers according to their needs.。

"Many of our software and cloud services are interoperable and can also run on AWS or Azure, so users are not restricted.。"If this is not addressed, eventually the number of cloud providers will decrease, innovation won't really happen, and investment will start to shrink."。"

When asked why Amazon, which has a larger share of the cloud market than Microsoft, does not pose a similar anti-competitive risk, Zavery said AWS consumers do not face the same restrictions.。

Zavery said: "There are some issues with cloud interoperability, but we can fix them.。"The problem we have with Microsoft is that there are no technical issues, but there are licensing restrictions, which means we can't compete right now."。"

Google made six recommendations to the CMA, including forcing Microsoft to improve interoperability for customers using Azure and other cloud services, and banning Microsoft from denying security updates to those customers who switch.。