Microsoft announced today the release of their latest subscription service, Microsoft 365 and Office 365. However, unlike previous versions, this one will not include the popular communication platform, Teams. This decision comes after facing backlash from the European Union and rivals, such as Slack.
The company’s decision is in response to their agreement to sell Office 365 suite without Teams in the EU and Switzerland last year. Initially, Teams was offered as a complimentary feature to the Office 365 suite back in 2017.
Many businesses have argued that Microsoft has an unfair advantage by bundling the two offerings together. This sentiment was echoed by Slack, now owned by Salesforce, who called the move “illegal”. They alleged that Microsoft forced the installation of Teams on customers through their dominating productivity suite, while hiding the true cost of the chat and video service.
When asked for comment, a Microsoft representative told Reuters, “The unbundling of Teams also addresses feedback from the European Commission, providing multinational companies with more flexibility when standardizing their purchasing across different regions.”
Reuters has reported that the new Office 365 packages will be available starting Monday. However, Microsoft has yet to make the change at the time of publication.
TechCrunch has reached out to Microsoft for more information and will update the story as details emerge.
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