Microsoft offers EU cloud providers fresh commercial terms, staves off risk of litigation

Microsoft has tabled a fresh set of commercial terms for an association of cloud providers in Europe that earlier filed a complaint with antitrust authorities in the trading bloc over allegations of anti-competitive licensing practices. The Cloud Infrastructure Service Providers of Europe, aka CISPE, is a trade body that acts …

[abend0c4]

Financial, not technically based

Play to your strengths.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Financial, not technically based

> Play to your strengths.

Absolutely. Heard about another company losing to Microsoft this week. Better technology, better price, but then the discounted Windows licenses came in...

[Stu J]

I feel deep unease that this is being negotiated behind closed doors between one set of companies with vested interests, and the abusive monopolist, Microsoft. Any outcomes will benefit CISPE only, not Microsoft license-holders.

The best outcome for everyone else is if CISPE tell MS to feck off, support the antitrust/monopoly complaints to reach their inevitable conclusions, and get both the playing field levelled, and a massive settlement for literally every MS customer/hostage who's been adversely affected by their shitty practices over the past 10 years.

[may_i]

Isn't this issue kind of irrelevant now?

European cloud service companies should be investing like mad in genuinely sovereign solutions, not wasting their time and money on this old bullshit. Or being members of a trade body which achieves little in return for their membership fees.

The EU is accused of having a trade deficit with the USA. Well, possibly, if you don't include services. If you do, and include how much money Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, Oracle, Google and countless other US companies receive from the EU, the sums don't add up like the mad orange king wants them to.

Given the capricious nature of our previous ally and common sense in general, it would seem wise to ensure that the technology we rely on is both confidential and not capable of being turned off remotely at the whim of someone who "doesn't like to read".