Thursday, November 28th 2024
FTC Launches Major Antitrust Investigation into Microsoft, First in 25 Years
According to the original report from Bloomberg, the Federal Trade Commission has initiated a comprehensive antitrust investigation into Microsoft Corporation, incorporating about a year of conducted informal interviews with Microsoft's competitors about its business practices. The probe encompasses Microsoft's cloud computing services, software licensing practices, cybersecurity offerings, and AI products. The investigation has now culminated in an extensive information request spanning hundreds of pages. FTC chair Lina Khan has authorized this demand for documents, signaling a serious escalation in the agency's oversight of the company. A key focus of the investigation is Microsoft's practice of bundling its popular Office productivity suite and security software with its cloud services.
Critics, including companies like Slack and Zoom, argue that Microsoft's strategy of including Teams video-conferencing software free with Word and Excel creates an unfair competitive advantage. The probe has gained momentum following several cybersecurity incidents involving Microsoft's products. As a major government contractor providing billions in software and cloud services to US agencies, including the Defense Department, Microsoft's security practices have drawn particular attention. The government's Cyber Safety Review Board recently concluded that Microsoft's security culture "requires an overhaul" given the company's role in the technology infrastructure ecosystem. This investigation makes Microsoft the fifth major tech company to face antitrust scrutiny in recent years, joining Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Google. It also represents a return after 25 years to regulatory challenges for Microsoft, which faced a similar antitrust lawsuit in the late 1990s over its Windows operating system and browser bundling practices.
Sources:
Bloomberg, via The Verge
Critics, including companies like Slack and Zoom, argue that Microsoft's strategy of including Teams video-conferencing software free with Word and Excel creates an unfair competitive advantage. The probe has gained momentum following several cybersecurity incidents involving Microsoft's products. As a major government contractor providing billions in software and cloud services to US agencies, including the Defense Department, Microsoft's security practices have drawn particular attention. The government's Cyber Safety Review Board recently concluded that Microsoft's security culture "requires an overhaul" given the company's role in the technology infrastructure ecosystem. This investigation makes Microsoft the fifth major tech company to face antitrust scrutiny in recent years, joining Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Google. It also represents a return after 25 years to regulatory challenges for Microsoft, which faced a similar antitrust lawsuit in the late 1990s over its Windows operating system and browser bundling practices.
34 Comments on FTC Launches Major Antitrust Investigation into Microsoft, First in 25 Years
I've used email deliverability services in the past which showed everything from the servers i've setup was right, no ip abuse history either from the dedicated IPs we had from our ISP, yet microsoft still treated all our mail as junk by default (it was a medical clinic mail server so no unsollicited emails ever). Microsoft servers were the only issue, everything else was delivered.
Even when doing everything by the book following microsoft postmaster recommendation and sollicitating them for that issue through their dedicated online tool channels, the issue never goes away.
Their forums are flooded with people having the same issues.
If your hosted on something like 365 you might be a young business and put in the lower tier IP pools. Open a case and see if they can issue a new one. It’s a pita to redo all your DNS records but if you’re so reliant on email I suppose it’s worth it.
If you don’t want to deal with any of this or fired your staff then use something like sendgrid.
MS also has a service you can send mail too to see what’s getting flagged. Try that before you send 50,000 80% off sale emails and get your IP burned forever.
There are third part analyzers that do the same.
Edit: also check to make sure your not an open relay; though my toolbox and the like do that for you, just so you can make sure no one is relaying your server and destroying your IP reputation regardless of your email hygiene.
There are Big-and-Dark-Clouds over Google since the US Department of Justice launched an investigation over a dominated position of Chrome browser.
On the Internet search for "...The Department of Justice asks court to force Google to spin off..."
What self hosted mail server solution are you using yourself then?