Microsoft introduced outsourcing licensing restrictions in 2019. At that time, Directions on Microsoft analyst Wes Miller warned that the changes would be “massive” for customers who had looked to use AWS and Google Cloud as dedicated hosts for running Windows Server and clients. Microsoft’s changes around its bring-your-own-license terms are more restrictive and expensive for customers and partners who want to run Microsoft software on anything but Azure. As justification for its changes, Microsoft officials have said rivals like AWS or Google are always free to make similar licensing and pricing moves. I’ve asked Microsoft for further comment on Bloomberg’s report. No word back so far. Update: A Microsoft spokesperson provided me with this statement, attributable to President Smith: “We’re committed to listening to our customers and meeting the needs of European cloud providers. While not all of these claims are valid, some of them are, and we’ll absolutely make changes soon to address them.”
