Germany’s Nextcloud Launches EU Complaint Against Microsoft

German software company Nextcloud made public today that it had filed complaints against the US company with the European Commission and the German competition authority and was planning further action with the French regulator, reported Politico. 

Nextcloud complained that Microsoft “pushes” its file-hosting service OneDrive in Windows, including by pre-installing the software, giving users free storage and nudging them with pop-up alerts to start using the service.

Nextcloud presents itself as a privacy-friendly alternative to OneDrive and other US rivals such as Dropbox and Google Drive, which allow users to store files and access them from different devices.

A coalition of 30 smaller EU tech companies and associations has come out in support of Nextcloud in a campaign that extends to other services Microsoft allegedly pushes such as Teams.

“The problem is that Microsoft is bundling their services with Windows where they have a dominant position,” Nextcloud founder Frank Karlitschek told Politico.

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