Part 4 of a sourced series. Every fact links to its source — regulator pages, the parties' own statements, and reputable reporting. Accusations are labeled as allegations and attributed to who made them. Nothing here says Microsoft broke the law; no regulator has found that. My opinions are marked. Corrections policy at the bottom; an evidence explorer lets you check every claim.
The cheapest place to run Windows is Microsoft's cloud
That's not an accident, rivals say — it's the design.
The claim from European competitors is simple: Microsoft's software-licensing terms quietly make its own Azure cloud the cheapest place to run Microsoft software, and the priciest place is everyone else's. Whether that's smart business or an abuse of dominance is exactly what's now in front of regulators.
To be clear up front: what follows is a chain of complaints, a settlement, and an open investigation — not a verdict.
The complaint (2022)
On 9 November 2022, the trade group CISPE — Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe — filed a formal competition complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission's competition directorate (CISPE; The Register).
CISPE alleged that Microsoft engages in "unjustified and discriminatory bundling, tying, self-preferencing pricing and technical and economic lock-in," using its grip on productivity software to steer European customers toward Azure (CISPE executive summary).
Those are CISPE's words and CISPE's allegations — not findings, and not mine.
The settlement (2024)
It never reached a ruling. On 10–11 July 2024, Microsoft and CISPE announced a settlement: CISPE agreed to withdraw its Commission complaint in exchange for a set of Microsoft commitments (CISPE; TechCrunch).
A settlement is the existence of a deal — not an admission that anyone broke the law. What was in it:
- Cash. Microsoft reportedly agreed to pay CISPE around €20 million (~$21.7M) to cover litigation and campaign costs. CISPE's own release calls it a lump-sum contribution without a figure; the number is press-reported by Reuters, not party-confirmed (Reuters via U.S. News; Tech Monitor).
- A product. Microsoft committed to build an enhanced "Azure Stack HCI for Hosters" for European providers — multi-session Windows 11 VDI, free Extended Security Updates, pay-as-you-go SQL Server — within ~nine months, or CISPE could refile (CISPE; The Register).
- A watchdog. An independent European Cloud Observatory — Microsoft, European cloud vendors, and customer-association reps — to monitor implementation and publish periodic assessments (CISPE).
The part that drew fire
Here's the controversy: the settlement explicitly did not cover AWS, Google Cloud, and AliCloud — even though AWS is itself a CISPE member, and was excluded from the negotiations (The Register; TechCrunch).
Critics said that flatly contradicted CISPE's own earlier line — that any remedy should apply to all European cloud infrastructure providers (TechCrunch). A deal meant to fix lock-in had, in their telling, a guest list.
The second complaint (2024)
The largest excluded rival did not let it rest. On 25 September 2024, Google Cloud filed its own antitrust complaint with the European Commission. Google alleged that Microsoft's 2019 licensing terms made customers pay up to five times more to run Windows Server on rival clouds, and cost European customers up to about €1 billion a year (Google Cloud; CNBC).
Those figures are Google's allegations, attributed to Google — not established facts.
And Microsoft hit back. A spokesperson said Microsoft had "settled amicably similar concerns raised by European cloud providers, even after Google hoped they would keep litigating," and expected Google to "fail to persuade the European Commission" (CNBC). Microsoft's position is that there's nothing here to fix.
The probe (2025) — still open
On 18 November 2025, the European Commission opened market investigations under the Digital Markets Act, assessing whether AWS and Microsoft Azure should be designated cloud "gatekeepers" and whether the DMA properly addresses unfair cloud practices. Days later, Google withdrew its own complaint, pointing to the new EC process (European Commission; Computer Weekly).
Read the Commission's own words and the framing is careful: these are assessments, not conclusions. As of now there is no finding that Microsoft broke the law (European Commission).
My read
Opinion — Michael. I'm not telling you Microsoft is guilty — no regulator has said that, and I won't say it either. What I see is the shape of an incentive. When the same company sets the software prices and sells the cloud those prices favor, the gravity points one way, and you don't need a villain for that to happen. The settlement that skipped the biggest rivals is the tell I keep coming back to: a fix for lock-in that locks some competitors out feels less like justice and more like negotiation. Bad systems, not bad people — and an open EU file that will, eventually, tell us more than I can.
You don't have to take my read. The filings, the settlement terms, and the Commission's own page are linked above — judge them yourself.
Sourcing & corrections
CISPE's complaint and settlement are drawn from CISPE's own releases; Google's allegations from Google's blog and CNBC; Microsoft's rebuttal from CNBC; the DMA investigation from the European Commission, corroborated by The Register, TechCrunch, Reuters, and Computer Weekly — each linked inline and matched in the explorer. The €20M settlement figure is press-reported, not party-confirmed. Spot an error or something unfair? Email mpolzin@zimzap.com or message me on LinkedIn — I'll review and correct.
Next — Part 5: "The Bundle."
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