Microsoft still prohibits Google or Alibaba from running O365 Windows Apps
- Reference: 1692961333
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/08/25/microsoft_google_alibaba_windows_apps/
- Source link:
From October 2019, Microsoft complicated the licensing picture for many by classifying its three major rivals as Listed Providers, meaning customers had to fork out for new licenses to run the wares in those clouds. In the case of Office 365 Windows Apps were actually prohibited from being hosted by the trio*.
Earlier [1]this month , Microsoft decided to tweak the rules, saying end user computing customers with certain licenses would now be able to run Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, Microsoft Project, and Microsoft Visio on Amazon Workspaces.
[2]
"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," it said.
[3]
[4]
Yet there is still no indication that Microsoft will apply those same changes to Google Cloud Platform or Alibaba. We asked Microsoft to comment on Wednesday.
We talked to numerous interested parties who spoke on the condition of anonymity, companies that are close to both Microsoft and its rivals. One said of the licensing lockout: "There's absolutely no technical reason. It is purely commercial."
[5]
"It's just a couple of lines in a Microsoft licensing agreement which says you can't run it on GCP or AWS, no good reason because you can run it on Apple devices, Android devices, PCs, Macs on Azure on-prem datacenters, but can't do it with GCP or Alibaba.
"Microsoft have their own solution, Windows 365 and Azure virtual desktop, and they are competitive products to us, so in a market essentially what they're telling customers is, 'If you have a security concern with Windows, you want to run it in a datacenter in a cloud,' but the only choice you have is Azure."
Customers wanting to run Windows Client or Office in GCP, Alibaba or AWS must buy additional licenses. Google, AWS, and many others have complained about this, with CISPE even [6]filing a complaint with the European Commission.
[7]
"It becomes more expensive to run Windows on any other cloud," said a source. "That's a cost but this one [on prohibition] is egregious because it just says you can't do it."
What are customers saying to these suppliers about the cloud setup? Some decided to postpone the decision, others "reluctantly" went with Azure, and others "want to fight Microsoft," said a VDI supplier.
The solution to this? "Simple. Strike those lines from licensing agreement and we're good."
In May, Microsoft talked about how it was [8]making it easier for customers to bring its software to channel partners' multi-tenant servers and more conveniently license virtual machines for Windows Server.
"All the growth is happening in hyperscale. Cloud computing. It's not happening in smaller managed service provider," the VDI source said. "80 percent of the growth is with hyperscalers, nobody's running stuff in their own datacenters anymore. It seems outrageous that Microsoft would be able to 'play favorites' and arbitrarily only allow AWS to run O365, but that appears to be the case for now."
We have asked Google and Alibaba for comment.
[9]Euro monopoly cops to probe Microsoft for slipping Teams into Office
[10]Google veep calls out Microsoft's cloud software licensing 'tax'
[11]Euro cloud providers react to MS potentially cutting deal on antitrust
[12]Google formally accuses monopolist Microsoft of trapping people in its cloud
Wes Miller, analyst at Directions on Microsoft, said it is "unclear" why Microsoft made the change for AWS and not the two other Listed Providers.
"I'm not privy to what transpired to get the change made – but I can say we regularly hear about customers running on Amazon WorkSpaces, and not so much about VDI on Google Cloud Platform or Alibaba. So it may come down to the number of affected customers, the distinct volume of customers, the length of time that WorkSpaces has existed… it's hard to say," he told The Register .
"I do think it's unfortunate to create this one carve-out and not re-enable Office on VDI on GCP and Alibaba. I'm hopeful that at some point down the line Microsoft fixes this, and enables it for the other two partners, as there's no justifiable reason why you can run Office on Azure (under the best licensing option), on Amazon (on more expensive licensing, but it's permissible), but not on the other two Listed Providers."
Still a problem for Amazon – analyst
Michael Silver, Research VP at Gartner, had some advice for customers: "First, note that the Amazon/Microsoft deal looks to be specific to Amazon WorkSpaces and does not allow third-party solutions to run compliantly. So solutions from Citrix, VMware, etc. are still not compliant in terms of running the M365 Windows applications on AWS. I don't believe Google has a similar service and I don't know about Alibaba.
"The overall issue is still a problem for all Listed Providers including Amazon, based on the limits of the new rights. Customers should still be lobbying Microsoft to eliminate the Listed Provider limitations."
Ryan Triplette, executive director of the Coalition for Fair Software Licensing, opined: "The news that Microsoft will allow a limited number of 365 customers to use AWS Workspaces is far too small of a step to suggest that Microsoft is serious about doing the right thing. Instead, it confirms that there are no technical reasons behind Microsoft's decision to continue to limit customer choice.
"Microsoft created inequities in October 2019 when they implemented software licensing terms to limit the ability of their customers to use licenses that they had already paid for on the cloud of their choice. Nothing short of rolling back these restrictions entirely is acceptable." ®
Bootnote
*Microsoft also included itself as a Listed Provider, which [13]sources told us was so that Microsoft could claim the move was non-discriminatory, but Microsoft allowed customers to swap perpetual licenses for SaaS-based license for Azure.
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/02/microsoft_concession_you_can_run/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZOjQJtXOQsGAXAW7ZGVLYAAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZOjQJtXOQsGAXAW7ZGVLYAAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZOjQJtXOQsGAXAW7ZGVLYAAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZOjQJtXOQsGAXAW7ZGVLYAAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/30/microsoft_cispe_settlement_rejected/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZOjQJtXOQsGAXAW7ZGVLYAAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://blogs.partner.microsoft.com/partner/new-licensing-benefits-make-bringing-workloads-and-licenses-to-partners-clouds-easier/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/17/eu_regulator_to_next_week/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/01/google_microsoft_cloud_complaints/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/30/microsoft_euro_complaints/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/21/google_ftc_microsoft_anticompetitive_cloud/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/01/google_microsoft_cloud_complaints/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
re: How this is not monopolist behaviour?
I'm going out on a limb here, but given the article lists 3 other big cloud providers, is it because MS don't have a monopoly?
Re: re: How this is not monopolist behaviour?
> is it because MS don't have a monopoly?
You don't need to be a monopoly to be guilty of monopolistic behaviour
If Tesla bought the company running Golden Gate bridge and only allowed Teslas to use it, that would be monopolistic behaviour even though Tesla aren't the only car company.
MS does not care one little bit
They have just as deep pockets as Google and afford to buy off all of Congress to have their way. Do it the MS way or not at all. That's how it has always been and if SatNad has his way, it will be their way forever.
If you are locked into Orifice 350 in the cloud, then I feel sad for you.
The same goes for all Google bovine excrement.
Personally, I hope they end up in a MAD situation. The world will be a better place without them in their current forms.
The thing i want to know is…
What, exactly, are Microsoft going to do if you ignore their rules about not running Office 365 on GCP, Alibaba or even EC2 come to that?
Usually, when you break a Microsoft licensing ‘rule’, they hit you up for a ‘compliance’ order. You are forced to buy the licenses that allow you to do what you have been doing.
But in this case, there are NO licenses you can buy that allow you to run on GCP, Alibaba or EC2.
So, what are they going to do? Turn off O365? Most organisations (banks, governments, healthcare etc) would not be able to operate without running Microsoft Office. Is this really what Microsoft are threatening?
So, the old monopoly is back?
Have the seven years passed already?
I'm guessing that Satya Nadella getting a puff piece in Wired was all that was needed to finally drop the pretense then and return to the old habits of yesteryear. After all, they not only made a lot of money but also b(r)ought enough influence to maintain their monopoly.
Or, in other words, finally enough money was spent on dinners and other delights in Brussels for them to stop paying attention.
Re: So, the old monopoly is back?
These days Cloud vendors are like "Farmers" while Hackers are just "Hunter Gatherers" ... You wonder why I see it like that? "One drink is too many for me and a thousand not enough when I'm using Cloud services"
vdi is shit and a stupid idea anyway so nothing of value is lost.
bosses who chose this shit deserve the problem and extra costs.
There's no longer a need to depend on the Microsoft Office Suite - Open Office, Libre Office, WPS Office and many open-source software solutions are perfectly workable. Also related - Microsoft plans to make its future operating systems completely dependent on their cloud. As a Linux user, I demand control of my own machine and will never agree to pay Microsoft a service for their cloud simply in order to use MY computer. Thus I have already made these changes years ago. Stop fearing Linux and open-source - it's an easy and pleasant transition - explore and support them instead of being owned by Microsoft.
How this is not monopolist behaviour? Surely this shows that's to break MS in (at least) two - one half to sell software and not allowed to touch cloud services, and the other half cloud services and not allowed to sell software. No common personnel, no favouritism allowed between the two.