Microsoft is often faced with recurring lawsuits for anti-competitive practices, such as when in 2022 it was denounced by Slack before the European Union or, more recently, when the European Commission forced Microsoft to uncouple Teams from its Office Suite. Now, without waiting for the company to recover from the blow, Zoom’s CEO is trying to convince the Federal Trade Commission in the United States (FTC) to follow in the footsteps of the European Union.
As reported by Bloomberg, Eric Yuan – the CEO of Zoom – has spoken out in this regard recently, as the inclusion of Teams for free in the Office suite almost killed Slack, which would have forced this move by the European Commission. In Yuan’s words, responding to a question on the subject: “you should ask this question to the FTC as well”.
A problem more serious than it seems
To many people, bundling applications into packages or suites may seem like a secondary issue, but many companies move from one program to another simply because of the synergies between programs in the same group, or even for the convenience of not having to manage multiple accounts and passwords. This is something that is also starting to happen with Google Meets as a result of Google Workspace, with which it is difficult to compete. In the case of Teams, it is even more blatant, since it comes preinstalled in Windows 11 and if you do not deactivate it, it starts automatically every time you log in to your session.
That last one is a simple example of how Microsoft constantly uses its products to get its users to use its other products. Edge is not only the default browser, but also the base reader of the operating system and the one that opens when one tries to search for a solution to a problem (even if the default browser is another one), automatically searching Bing even if Google is the preferred search engine. Microsoft’s practices are at times highly questionable and stifle its competition while greatly degrading the user experience. Perhaps, with any luck, regulations will get stricter and stricter in the face of these facts.
