Brussels Amazon and Google, which is part of Alphabet, criticised Microsoft’s changes to cloud computing on Tuesday, saying that they hurt competition and make people less likely to switch to other cloud service providers.
Monday, the U.S. software giant announced new licence agreements and other changes that would go into effect on October 1 and make it simpler for cloud service providers to compete.
The partnerships will exclude Amazon, Google, Alibaba, and Microsoft’s own cloud services.
Microsoft’s decision came after smaller European Union competitors complained to EU antitrust regulators about the company’s cloud service practises. EU antitrust inspectors then questioned market participants about the problem and its implications.
Amazon, the biggest cloud service provider, was quite critical of Microsoft and Google.
“Rather than listening to its customers and restoring fair software licencing in the cloud for everyone, Microsoft is now doubling down on the same bad tactics by adding even more restrictions in an unfair attempt to limit the competition it faces,” an AWS representative said in an email.
Related: Amazon works with Just Eat to deliver food in the United States.
The vice president of government affairs and policy for Google Cloud, Marcus Jadotte, also had bad things to say.
He tweeted, “The promise of the cloud is flexible, elastic computing without contractual lock-ins.”
“Customers should be allowed to freely move across platforms and select the technology that works best for them,” Jadotte added.
