Slack reports Microsoft to the EU antitrust authority for Teams

A complaint has been filed today with the offices of the European Commission which sees Slack pointing his finger at Microsoft accusing the latter of illegal and harmful to competition. At the heart of the dispute is the inclusion of Teams in the Office suite which holds an important market share for productivity solutions.

Microsoft has illegally included the Teams product in its Office suite for productivity which dominates the market, forcing its installation for millions of users, preventing its removal and hiding its real cost to enterprise customers.

Slack vs. Microsoft: Europe speaks out on Teams

Two of the services that have benefited most from the race to adopt smart working in recent months are on the table, thanks to the global health crisis that has forced many to work and communicate remotely. Slack has closed a record quarter and Teams has not been less by registering a real surge in the number of users.

The antitrust body of the old continent was therefore called upon to comment on the work from Microsoft. This is the comment of Jonathan Prince, Slack's Vice President of Communications and Policy.

We are confident that we will win over our product, but we cannot ignore the illegal behavior that deprives customers of access to the tools and the solutions they want. Slack threatens Microsoft's position in the email business, cornerstone of Office, so Slack threatens Microsoft's grip on enterprise software.

And to think that in early April the two companies had collaborated on the integration front between Slack and Teams with the aim of meeting the needs expressed by users. Prince continues.

The question goes beyond the Slack against Microsoft, is a comparison between two philosophies are very different with regard to the future of digital ecosystems: “gateway versus gatekeeper”. Slack offers an open and flexible approach that represents a threat to Microsoft because it promotes innovation and the development of the best technologies that compete with the rest of the portfolio Microsoft is offering customers the freedom to configure solutions that meet their needs. We want to be 2% of your budget for the software that gives value to the remaining 98%, they want 100%.

In the moment in which it is written and published this article from Microsoft will not have come comments about. We will eventually integrate them as soon as available. The ball is therefore now in the hands of the European Commission that after analyzing the complaint will decide whether to open a formal investigation with the aim to shed light on any anti-competitive behaviour or store the practice.

Source: Slack