Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Thanks to CTOnews.com netizens Wu Yanzu in South China, Brother Black fly's left-hand clue delivery! CTOnews.com, April 25 (Xinhua) Microsoft has agreed to stop bundling its Teams remote collaboration software with its Office productivity suite, in a move aimed at preventing EU regulators from conducting formal antitrust investigations, the Financial Times reported.

Two people with direct knowledge of the decision said Microsoft had made concessions to avoid a formal investigation after rival Slack filed a complaint in 2020 that Microsoft's bundling of the two services was anti-competitive.

Sources said that when buying Office in the future, users are free to choose whether or not to buy Teams if they wish, but the mechanism for how to do this is still unclear. The source stressed that negotiations are still ongoing and it is uncertain whether an agreement can be reached.

The move is part of Microsoft's efforts to avoid its first antitrust investigation in more than a decade. Microsoft has been trying to avoid legal disputes with the European Commission that have hit it hard in the past.

In 2008, the European Commission accused Microsoft of using its dominance to push users to download its Internet Explorer browser by bundling it with Windows at the expense of competitors. Microsoft and the European Commission have since reached a settlement and offered users a browser option, but in 2013, the EU fined Microsoft 561 million euros (CTOnews.com Note: currently about 4.252 billion yuan) for failing to deliver on its promise.

It is unclear whether Microsoft's proposal for Teams will be enough to allay regulators' concerns.

"as a large technology company, we are well aware of our responsibilities in the EU," Microsoft said in response to the Financial Times. We will continue to work with the Commission to investigate and be open to pragmatic solutions to address their concerns and provide good service to our customers. "

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