Euro cloud crew says we-won't-sue deal with Microsoft is 'off-track'

Microsoft is not on track to meet technical commitments that form the basis of a settlement agreement intended to resolve a legal dispute over software licensing with a gaggle of cloud providers in Europe. The Cloud Infrastructure Service Providers of Europe (CISPE) trade association agreed in July to call off the lawyers on …

[Anonymous Coward]

Who would have thought?

Microsoft fleecing their competitors with monopolistic business practices. A MOU that is not understood?

Who would have thought this possible?

I vaguely remember some kerfuffle in the past that was only resolved after MS was paying fines in the order of $1B. Just a thought.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Who would have thought?

That assumes they can make MS pay. Europe has entangled itself so much in Microsoft products that MS can simply threaten to shut the shop for a day and that discussion will be over, and for those who are a little bit more stubborn they have bribed lobbied politicians who will do anything to keep the moolah and the free dinners going.

MS has also spent 40+ years getting that entanglement set up, but maybe, just maybe, people start to finally see the risk of using prodycts of a company that need so many patches that they had to make a special day for it so it wouldn't be too visible just how much as to be fixed every month. And when products finally approach a point where that is no longer needed they launch new versions, because otherwise you might stop paying them - the fear must be maintained.

It's also hideously slow, and the UIs, well, no, I'll stop here. I need a beer.

No, Microsoft is not 'essential' (the argument i have seen used in Brussels to excuse away what they do), they are a risk. And, thanks to President Musk and his sidekick Trump, so may soon be the rest of the industry from those shores because don't forget that both are champions of not paying for what they can take, and Europe still has a lot of data they want.