Microsoft to stop bundling Teams with Office
To avoid an official antitrust probe by European Union (EU) regulators, Microsoft has announced that it will no longer require users of its popular Office software to also install its Teams video conferencing and messaging app on their devices.
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San Francisco: To avoid an official antitrust probe by European Union (EU) regulators, Microsoft has announced that it will no longer require users of its popular Office software to also install its Teams video conferencing and messaging app on their devices. According to the Financial Times, citing sources, Microsoft has made the concession to avoid a formal investigation, following a 2020 complaint by rival Slack (an enterprise chat app) alleging Microsoft bundling the service together was anti-competitive.
Slack has requested that EU officials compel Microsoft to sell Teams independently of its Office software. Slack's complaint came at a time when the trend towards working from home was accelerating.
Apps like Teams and Slack exploded in popularity during the Covid pandemic, creating a multibillion-dollar opportunity as users and businesses increasingly adopt tools that enable remote working, the report said.
