Microsoft Teams has become so popular it may actually be illegal

Microsoft Teams has become soh nonclassical IT may actually be illegal

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For many of us, it has been one of the virtually important apps of the lockdown and outback working world, but Microsoft Teams could constitute in hot water following complaints from some of its rivals.

The video conferencing tool is facing an probe from European Sum antitrust regulators after a protest from Slack.

The online collaboration platform has complained that having the Microsoft Teams app so firm integrated into the companionship's Office suite gives information technology an unfair advantage.

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Teams dominance?

Reported to Reuters, the European Commission has sent come out of the closet a questionnaire to several Microsoft Teams rivals focusing on the period covering 2016 to 2021.

The form covers a range of areas, including asking for a list of customers who have switched to Microsoft Teams surgery its bundled Office, too atomic number 3 how much the pandemic has boosted demand for removed employed tools much every bit video conferencing.

Rivals will likewise be quizzed on any revenue losses seen since the found of Teams, American Samoa well every bit any effect on research and growth, and how it has touched the quality and price of their products.

It's non celebrated precisely which rivals are being consulted as section of the inquiry, but it should be awaited that Slack is involved, with other online collaboration giants such as Soar, Google Satisfy and Cisco WebEx also in all probability to have been asked.

Slack says that the bundling of Microsoft Teams with Office gives the tool a boost by suggesting it is the about eligible option for users. It too says that uninstalling Teams is unnecessarily complex, and Microsoft was refusing to provide guidance on how it would allow its service to knead with rival platforms so much arsenic Slack.

The company has asked the EU to stock split Teams and Federal agency to make a point rival services such as itself are minded a fair chance.

Microsoft Teams has grown apace terminated the past 18 months owing to the vast number of workers forced to work from home during the pandemic. The software is also situated to play a central role in Windows 11, where it will comprise placed front and middle in the taskbar, with Microsoft apparently looking to realize Teams 2.0 the cardinal central communications hub for users.

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Via Reuters

Mike Moore is News & Features Editor program crossways both TechRadar Pro and ITProPortal. He has worked American Samoa a B2B and B2C tech diary keeper for nearly a decade, including at one of the UK's leading national newspapers, and when helium's not guardianship track of all the latest initiative and workplace trends, can most possible be found watching, following operating room taking component in some kind of sport.