The move marks a significant shift in a long-running dispute over how Microsoft prices and licenses its software for use on rival cloud platforms, an issue that has drawn growing scrutiny from regulators, industry groups and enterprise customers across Europe.
Google confirmed that it had “formally withdrawn” its complaint, first lodged in 2024, which alleged that Microsoft’s licensing policies made it disproportionately costly or technically restrictive for organisations to run Windows Server and other Microsoft workloads on competing clouds, including Google Cloud.
At the time, Google argued that such practices undermined customer choice and entrenched Azure’s position in the European market.
However, the company said the landscape has now changed, following the Commission’s decision earlier this month to open a wider investigation into the cloud sector under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).
That probe will assess whether the largest cloud providers, including Microsoft and Amazon Web Services, should face additional obligations to ensure fair competition, interoperability and contractual transparency.
“Given the Commission’s decision to examine these practices through a new regulatory process, we believe it is appropriate to step back and allow that assessment to proceed,” a Google Cloud spokesperson said.
The development places the spotlight firmly on Brussels, which has been increasingly vocal about the need to prevent market concentration in cloud infrastructure.
European cloud providers and trade bodies, including CISPE, have long argued that Microsoft’s software licensing rules disadvantage smaller players and distort procurement decisions across both the public and private sectors.
For the wider digital infrastructure ecosystem, the Commission’s findings could have far-reaching consequences. Tighter rules on software portability and licensing could shift enterprise cloud strategies, reshape competitive dynamics between hyperscalers, and influence demand for hybrid and multi-cloud networking.
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