EU coalition slams Microsoft OneDrive-Windows integration

A major coalition of European Union (EU) software and cloud organisations called Nextcloud has filed a formal complaint with the European Commission (EC) about Microsoft's anti-competitive behaviour, especially the OneDrive Cloud and Windows integration.

In the complaint, Nextcloud and almost 30 other European companies claimed that by pushing consumers to sign up and hand over their data to Microsoft, "the Windows giant is limiting consumer choice and creating an unfair barrier for other companies offering competing services," reports ZDNet.

"This is quite similar to what Microsoft did when it killed the competition in the browser market, stopping nearly all browser innovations for over a decade," said Frank Karlitschek, Nextloud's CEO and Founder.

"Together with the other members of the coalition, we are asking the antitrust authorities in Europe to enforce a level playing field, giving customers a free choice and giving the competition a fair chance," he said in a statement.

Microsoft was yet to react to the formal complaint filed by Nextcloud.

Nextcloud alleged that the tech giant has "outright blocked other cloud service vendors by leveraging its position as gatekeeper to extend its reach in neighbouring markets, pushing users deeper into its ecosystems".

Enterprise communication platform Slack has also filed an antitrust complaint against Microsoft in the European Union (EU) about Microsoft's integrating Teams with Office.

Nextcloud has urged the European Commission's Directorate-General for Competition to prevent this kind of abusive behaviour and keep the market competitive and fair for all players.

"Nextcloud has also filed a request with the German antitrust authorities, the Bundeskartellamt, for an investigation against Microsoft," the report mentioned.