Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
Udit Kulshrestha and David Paul Morris Bloomberg | Getty Images
Microsoft took the unusual step Monday of publicly criticizing a longtime rival Google for conducting a “shadow campaign” in Europe aimed at discrediting the software giant with regulators.
Microsoft lawyer Rima Alaily wrote in a statement blog post Google hired a firm to recruit European cloud companies to represent the search company’s case.
“This week, an astroturf group organized by Google is launching,” Microsoft lawyer Rima Alaily wrote in a statement. blog post. “It was designed to allow competition authorities and policymakers to discredit Microsoft and mislead the public. Google went to great lengths to obfuscate its involvement, funding and control, most notably by recruiting a handful of European cloud providers to play the role of the public .” What the new organization will look like. “
The conflict represents a new battle between the two companies, which compete in cloud infrastructure as well as online advertising and productivity software. The latest chapter emerges as Google faces increased regulatory pressure in Europe and the United States. Second antitrust trial Against the Department of Justice.
In a post on Monday, Allelli suggested that Google hire consulting firm DGA Group to form the Open Cloud Alliance. Allelli wrote that one company that chose not to join the group told Microsoft that the alliance would receive financial support from Google and criticized Microsoft’s practices in Europe.
Aleilly linked to flyers Open Cloud Alliance. An overview in the attached document says the alliance “was established to advocate for a fair, competitive and open cloud services industry in the UK and EU”.
A DGA Group representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Google had no immediate comment.
Last month, Google said Archive Filed a complaint against Microsoft to the European Commission, the EU’s executive agency, accusing Google of unfair practices in licensing the Windows Server operating system. Microsoft said in a statement website Customers save an average of 36% when using Windows Server on the Microsoft Cloud (rather than in the cloud) Amazon Internet services.
Amazon leads the cloud infrastructure market, surpassing Microsoft and Google.
Allelli said that Google has established a model to catch up with Microsoft. Google funds the Fair Software Licensing Alliance, which last year asked the FTC Investigate MicrosoftAllelli wrote. she said google It is said The company will provide about $500 million in funding to European cloud infrastructure service providers if they reject a proposed antitrust settlement against Microsoft. The case was eventually settle down July.
watch: Google Cloud executive says Microsoft violated EU antitrust laws
