In 2025, Microsoft agreed to unbundle Teams from Office 365 and Microsoft 365 in Europe, lowering prices for the new versions and making it easier for people to choose what they want. This happened after Slack complained to the EU that Microsoft was forcing Teams on users and hurting competition. The EU investigated and found Microsoft’s first changes weren’t enough, so the company had to offer more choices and make it easier to switch or move data. These rules will last for ten years, and Microsoft might make similar changes around the world. The whole story shows how rules in Europe can shape technology for everyone, not just in one place.
What was the outcome of the EU antitrust case against Microsoft Teams and Office 365?
In response to EU antitrust concerns, Microsoft agreed in 2025 to unbundle Teams from Office 365 and Microsoft 365 in Europe, offer lower prices for unbundled packages, allow customers to switch between bundled and unbundled versions, and enhance interoperability and data portability, with commitments legally binding for ten years.
The Slack Heard ‘Round the World
Picture this: it’s mid-2020, and somewhere in a fluorescent-lit office, a Slack notification pings—one of those sounds you hear so often it starts to echo in your dreams. Except this was no ordinary alert. Slack Technologies, not yet subsumed by Salesforce, filed an official complaint with the European Commission. Their gripe? Microsoft was shoehorning Teams into Office 365 and Microsoft 365, making it not so much a productivity suite as a digital matryoshka dollTeams snugly nested inside, whether you wanted it or not.
That set the dominoes wobbling. Slack, channeling the ghost of Netscape, accused Microsoft of replaying its browser wars playbook—leveraging its dominance in productivity software to stifle competition, just as it tried with Internet Explorer back in the halcyon (or, depending on your temperament, hellish) late ’90s. The European Commission’s ears perked up. An investigation was formally opened in July 2023, invoking Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. For those allergic to legalese, that’s the bit that frowns upon abusing a dominant market position.
I have to confess, reading all this regulatory back-and-forth, I felt a mix of awe and exhausted d j vu. Haven t we been here before? Or maybe I just drank too much coffee.
Microsoft Pivots: Familiar Playbook, New Stakes
By August 2023, Microsoft, keen to avoid a regulatory Kafkaesque labyrinth, tried to preempt disaster. They announcedon a Friday, naturally, because thats when all the best corporate news dropsthat Teams would be unbundled from new Office 365 and Microsoft 365 commercial subscriptions in the EEA. Developers were granted easier access to Teams APIs, and the company promised to ease the glue keeping third-party alternatives at bay.
Was this enough? The short answer: nyet. The Commission, in what feels like classic EU fashion, found these efforts as satisfying as decaf espresso. (And if that metaphor doesn’t land, try ordering one in Brussels and watch the baristas face.) Microsofts offerings were, to quote Petri.com, insufficient for restoring competitive equilibriuman elusive, almost hyperspectral state in digital markets.
Ill admit, at this stage, even I was skeptical. Id once underestimated how sticky Microsofts integration strategies could belike that time I tried to export my contacts from Outlook and lost half my address book. Lesson learned.
The 2025 Compromise: Unbundling, Interoperability, and the Brussels Effect
Fast forward to May 2025. The air in Brussels was thick with anticipation (or maybe just rain), as Microsoft returned with a more elaborate tapestry of commitments. Heres where things got interesting, even for those of us whod seen this dance before.
First, Office 365 and Microsoft 365 would be offered at lower prices, minus Teamsa real choice this time, not just a checkbox tucked away in some labyrinthine admin panel. Second, customers could flip between bundled and unbundled packages at will, even mid-contract. Flexibility, at last! Then came the technical pi ce de r e9sistance: interoperability enhancements and expanded data portability, making it easier to break up with Teams, should one ever muster the courage or need.
These commitments, pending approval and public consultation, would be legally binding for a decade. Thats not mere PR posturing; with the threat of fines up to 10% of Microsofts global turnovera sum that could tower into the tens of billions of eurosthe stakes were as high as the caffeine content in my third cup of the morning.
And, yes, the Brussels Effectthe phenomenon where EU regulatory decisions ripple outward, reshaping global practicesloomed over it all. After initially fencing these changes to Europe, Microsoft signaled readiness to replicate them worldwide, much like what happened post-GDPR. One can almost hear the collective sigh (or groan) from Redmond to Reykjav edk.
The Human Side: Reactions, Ambivalence, and Lessons
Amidst this regulatory Sturm und Drang, Salesforce (Slacks corporate parent) reacted with what Id call cautious optimism. Sebastian Niles, their president, demanded binding, enforceable, and effective remedy. (Honestly, who wouldnt?) Meanwhile, the Commission is now inviting input from the full spectrum of stakeholders: rivals, trade groups, and, yes, actual usersthose for whom Teams is either a godsend or something to be avoided like lukewarm vending machine soup (The Register).
But the broader implications? Well, you can almost smell the ozone of regulatory energy in the air. The EUs approach here is a palimpsestlayering the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act atop classic competition law. Theyre not just policing fairness; theyre wrestling with how data portability (yay, competition!) sometimes collides with privacy and data protection (ugh, complexity) (academic.oup.com).
During a recent video callirony not lost on me, as Teams froze mid-sentenceI found myself reflecting: Did I ever believe antitrust could be this… textured? The smell of burnt toast, the flicker