Microsoft customers can run Office software in AWS
Google says Microsoft is 'trapping' customers into contracts
Microsoft is extending a minor concession, granting customers with specific licenses the ability to run Office products within an AWS cloud environment.
The move partially reverses a policy change made in 2019, which required customers with perpetual licenses to purchase new licenses if they wanted to run those applications on AWS, Google Cloud or Alibaba infrastructure.
Google claims the previous licensing policy made it five times more expensive to use Microsoft software on any other major cloud computing provider than on Azure.
Microsoft is the world's second largest cloud provider in terms of market share (and the largest in the UK), while Google trails behind as a distant third.
Google filed a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in June, accusing Microsoft of using its dominant position to trap customers into contracts within its Azure cloud server business.
The search giant said Microsoft uses software licencing restrictions to prevent customers from easily transitioning away from its cloud computing services.
Google further argued that Microsoft's dominant Windows Server and Microsoft Office products lock customers in, making it difficult for them to adopt alternatives to Microsoft's Azure cloud infrastructure.
Microsoft agreed to revise its licensing practices in the EU last year, with the goal of improving affordability for Azure customers who wanted to use additional cloud providers. However, those changes did not apply to customers in the US, and failed to address other cost-related concerns.
A senior executive at AWS said that, while Microsoft had made superficial changes to its licenses to comply with European regulators, the company was still ensuring that its products remained more expensive when used on its competitors' cloud platforms.
Microsoft has now introduced new licensing terms that exclusively benefit AWS cloud customers.
"Beginning August 1, 2023, users with specific licenses may run Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise/business, Microsoft Project, and Microsoft Visio on Amazon WorkSpaces," Microsoft said in an update.
"The licenses that will be eligible under this revised policy include Microsoft 365 E3/E5/A3/A5 and Microsoft 365 Business Premium. If you currently have any of these licenses, starting from August 1, you will be able to utilize these Microsoft applications on Amazon WorkSpaces virtual desktop infrastructure."
AWS also announced the availability of Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise on Amazon WorkSpaces, its cloud-based virtual desktop services.
"Your end users can now benefit from Microsoft 365 apps on WorkSpaces services along with their other devices," AWS stated.
"To run Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise on Amazon WorkSpaces services, you can bring your own Microsoft 365 licenses (if they meet Microsoft's licensing requirements) and activate the applications at no additional costs."
The supported WorkSpaces instances for running Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise include those with Windows Server and Bring Your Own License (BYOL) Windows Desktop operating systems, operating on dedicated instances.
Eligible applications for use with Microsoft 365 Apps on WorkSpaces services encompass Microsoft Office tools such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneDrive and others.
Customers using Microsoft 365 Apps on WorkSpaces can also bring their licenses to install and utilise additional Microsoft applications like Project, Visio and Power Automate.
The reason behind Microsoft's decision to offer concessions exclusively to AWS remains unclear.
Recently, Europe's competition regulators made a decision to investigate Microsoft's business policies and practices.
Francisco Mingorance, secretary general at CISPE, described Microsoft's move as a "positive step," but noted that it does not go "far enough."
"Software licensing restrictions need to be lifted for all cloud customers," he said.
"This news demonstrates that there is no technical reason why Microsoft can't embrace fair software licensing quickly, and easily remove unfair licensing terms.
"Despite this concession, Microsoft continues to harm European cloud customers by stalling any substantive negotiations with CISPE, the voice of smaller European providers. Regulatory action must be taken."