Microsoft today announced that its Dev Box, a cloud-hosted Windows-based developer workstation in the cloud, will become generally available in July.

These machines will now come in a wider variety of SKUs, ranging from 8 to 32 cores and with up to 128GB of memory and 2TB of storage. Microsoft is also making new starter images available in the Azure Marketplace that will make it easier for developers to customize these machines — and the software that runs on them — for their individual needs.

Image Credits: Microsoft

To further customize these machines, Microsoft is also introducing a configuration-as-code capability, based on YAML configuration files, which will allow IT to build base images and manage these configurations using their standard GitOps practices. This feature is now in private preview.

“When folks start to evaluate Dev Box, they have an initial trial period where they look at applying it to an initial team to see how effective it is — but then they quickly see the value of it and start to standardize on it throughout the organization,” Amanda Silver, the corporate vice president of product for Microsoft’s Developer Division, told me.

Microsoft’s reference customer for Dev Box is General Motors, but Microsoft itself is also currently in the process of rolling Dev Box out internally to many of its developers. Currently, Silver said, just under 10,000 Microsoft developers use the service and many of them have made it their primary development environment. About 90% of these developers say the product satisfies their needs and improves their productivity.

For IT, a Dev Box is essentially just another PC that can be administered with tools like the Microsoft Endpoint Manager, just like a physical machine. “It’s something that IT ops already understands how to deal with,” Silver said. “It takes something that used to be a little bit of a free for all for developers and it gives them a little bit more control and visibility over what’s happening on the developer workstations without compromising the developer productivity.”

Microsoft’s cloud-hosted developer workstations will soon be generally available by Frederic Lardinois originally published on TechCrunch

Microsoft is building its ChatGPT-based Bing experience right into Windows 11 — and adding a few twists that allow users to ask the chatbot to change their Windows settings, too.

The new Windows Copilot, which will be available right in the Windows 11 taskbar, is meant to make it easier for Windows users to find and change settings without having to delve deep into the Windows settings (think, “adjust my settings so I can focus.”). But the tools will also allow users to summarize content from the clipboard, for example, or compose text.

The Copilot will also be a gateway to the existing Bing/ChatGPT experience. “Just like you would with Bing Chat, you can ask Windows Copilot a range of questions from simple to complex,” Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer Panos Panay explains in today’s blog post. “If I want to call my family in Cyprus, I can quickly check the local time to make sure I’m not waking them up in the middle of the night. If I want to plan a trip to visit them in Cyprus, I can ask Windows Copilot to find my family flights and accommodations for mid-winter break.”

This new Bing integration into Windows 11 will become available in June. Now, if all of this sounds familiar, that may be because shortly after launching the new Bing, Microsoft also said that it would bring the new Bing to the Windows 11 taskbar. But that’s not really what the company did. It merely linked to the Bing web experience from the taskbar. Now, Windows 11 is putting all of this into a taskbar that is quite similar to the Bing sidebar in the Edge browser.

I don’t know if this will convince any Windows 10 holdouts to update to Windows 11, but it will definitely put Bing front and center for the roughly 20% of Windows who users have made the switch.

Microsoft bakes its Bing/ChatGPT bot into Windows 11 by Frederic Lardinois originally published on TechCrunch

In its early days, the Microsoft Store (which was previously known as the Windows Store), had a bit of a middling reputation, in part because it was full of low-quality tools. With the launch of Windows 11, Microsoft gave the store a major facelift and today, at its annual Build developer conference, it’s adding a number of new features to the store. Given where Microsoft as a whole is going, it’s no surprise that many of these new features center around AI. There’s a new section that highlights AI-centric apps, for example, new AI-generated review summaries and, coming soon, AI-generated tags in the partner center so developers can make their apps more discoverable.

What’s maybe even more important than these relatively minor changes is the fact that Microsoft is using this opportunity to reintroduce the store to users. A lot has changed in the Windows ecosystem and the store — yet given that Windows users traditionally had a direct relationship with their software vendors, unmitigated by a central store, I’m sure most still bypass the store (I know I always forget it exists — and that’s also true for the Mac App Store for me).

With launching the store on Windows 11, Microsoft made one crucial change: it opened up the store to all apps, whether they were native apps, progressive web apps, Android apps or Flutter apps. As Microsoft’s general manager of the Microsoft Store, Giorgio Sardo noted, Microsoft also allows app developers to either use its commerce platform or bring their own, keeping 100% of revenues.

“We’ve been on this journey now for two years and it’s interesting to reflect on how’s that going so far,” Sardo told me. “I’m quite excited. I’m proud of the momentum and the commitment we made to openness. I think that commitment to openness helps us create better products for end users and for the developers.”

He noted that just in the last year, the number of Win32 and Progressive Web Apps in the store doubled and a number of important apps, including WhatsApp, Adobe Express, TikTok, Disney+ and SnapChat are now available in the store. Sardo also noted that about 50% of users who buy a new Windows 11 device now use the store in the first 30 days.

Image Credits: Microsoft

With the new AI hub, Microsoft is introducing its first thematic hub in the apps’ prominent left sidebar. The other options there are apps (in general), games, movies and TV shows. Now, in the AI hub, the company is featuring apps like Luminar Neo, Lensa, Descript, Podcastl and Copy.ai. In part, that’s to capitalize on the overall hype around AI, but also to highlight that these kinds of app experiences are available on Windows and not only in mobile apps and on the web.

With this update, Microsoft is also announcing some changes to Microsoft Store Ads, which developers can now also opt to show on Bing.com for relevant search results and which will soon expand beyond the U.S. and to 150 regions worldwide.. In addition, they can now create high-impact ads that will appear in the spotlight section of the Microsoft Store (that is, the large featured section at the top of the store). This section supports video ads and is obviously one of the most prominent surfaces for these ads. Until now, the selection of apps here was an editorial choice by the Store Team, but now this gallery will include ads, too.

Microsoft puts a spotlight on AI in its Windows app store by Frederic Lardinois originally published on TechCrunch

When it comes to cloud growth, it’s probably safe to say that the sky isn’t falling, even though revenue growth rates have been. We’ve seen the aggregate public cloud revenue growth decline from 32% in Q1 last year to 19% this year. That’s a pretty steep drop-off, and it shows that the cloud has run into some headwinds.

As a result, we have seen folks talking about a great repatriation where cloud workloads will move back on-prem, but the evidence doesn’t suggest that’s happening. Instead, companies may be slowing cloud migration as they look at the most efficient way to distribute their workloads.

Clearly, companies have learned that not every workload is well suited to the cloud. Some that can’t deal with even a little bit of latency to get to the cloud and back, for example, need to be hosted on the edge to be closer to the compute source. But it doesn’t look like many IT departments long to go back to the days of racking and stacking new servers.

So why is public cloud growth slowing down? Customers have started to look at their hefty cloud bills, with budgets coming under ever more intensive review this year, looking for ways to cut costs, which Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky acknowledged in the company’s earnings call with analysts this week.

“Enterprise customers continued their multidecade shift to the cloud while working closely with our AWS teams to thoughtfully identify opportunities to reduce costs and optimize their work,” he said during the call. In CFO speak, that means that they aren’t abandoning the cloud, but they are taking a hard look at expenses, which is having a pretty significant impact on the company’s cloud growth numbers.

He added that the slowing growth could continue for a couple more quarters, but that overall customers are still high on the cloud. “So far in the first month of the year, AWS year-over-year revenue growth is in the midteens. That said, stepping back, our new customer pipeline remains healthy and robust, and there are many customers continuing to put plans in place to migrate to the cloud and commit to AWS over the long term.”

By now, the value proposition of the cloud, regardless of the vendor, is clear. It allows a level of flexibility that just isn’t possible when you run your own data center, and running your own data center is expensive and requires an entirely different set of skills from running cloud workloads.

So what does all this mean for the cloud infrastructure market revenue growth? If the data is right, it’s going to be fine. It just looks a little dicey in the short term.

In spite of recent a downward trend, the future remains bright for cloud by Ron Miller originally published on TechCrunch

iMessage is finally coming to Windows. Microsoft today announced that Phone Link for iOS is now rolling out to all Windows 11 customers, allowing iPhone users to make and receive phone calls, send and receive messages via iMessage, access their contacts, and see their phone’s notifications directly on their Windows PC. The feature had previously been available as an early preview to Windows Insiders.

Now, Microsoft says Phone Link for iOS on Windows 11 will begin rolling out to its global customer base in 39 languages across 85 markets. Though the rollout starts today, it may take a few weeks to reach the full customer base, the company noted.

Despite being available to Android users for some time, iPhone users have not had a similar option for staying connected with their friends and family through their PC. The lack of support for Windows likely kept some consumers from exploring the Windows PC ecosystem, as they wanted a more seamless experience when moving in between their devices.

But given how prevalent the use of Windows is within the business and personal computing worlds, that also meant that both Apple and Microsoft were massively underserving their respective — and overlapping — customer bases.

For business professionals, one advantage of Phone Link is that they can now respond to texts, track calls, and view incoming notifications more discreetly — for example, while in a meeting where pulling out your iPhone may feel unprofessional.

At other times, iPhone owners may want to charge their phone before heading out, but can still keep up with their calls, texts and notifications while the phone is plugged in elsewhere.

Image Credits: Microsoft

To get started with Phone Link, users are guided through a setup process that will pair their iPhone to their PC over Bluetooth.

This includes scanning a QR code sown on the screen the confirming the phone by matching a code shown on the iPhone to the code displayed in Phone Link. When pairing is complete, users are asked to grant a set of permissions that allows content to be synced to their PC.

As the last step, Phone Link will direct users to grant permissions on their iPhone within the phone’s Bluetooth settings which is what will allow them to receive their phone’s notifications on their PC and access their contacts.

When setup is complete, Phone Link will then offer basic support for calls, messages, and contacts, but it has some limitations. For example, it won’t support replying to group messages or sending media in messages. And because the messages are session-based, they’ll only come through when the phone is directly connected to the PC.

Notifications, meanwhile, will be delivered to the PC through Windows notifications. That means users can check them, pin them and dismiss them from the Windows interface.

Phone Link requires an iPhone with iOS 14 or higher, Windows 11, a Bluetooth connection, and the latest version of the Phone Link app, which is preinstalled with Windows 11. Support is not available for iPad (iPadOS) or MacOS at this time.

iMessage and more finally comes to Windows with global rollout of Phone Link for iOS by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch

Good decision-making is key to a company’s success. And the first step to making smart decisions is by using powerful tools to analyze data and draw meaningful insights. Microsoft Power BI offers a vast catalog of features that provide the ability to explore data and get the most out of it. Let’s take a look at some of these features.

Data integration

Power BI allows organizations to connect to various data sources, such as databases, spreadsheets, cloud-based services, and APIs, to consolidate and transform data into a unified view. This enables businesses to have a holistic view of their data and make informed decisions based on accurate and up-to-date information.

Data modeling

To make sense of large amounts of data, you need to have the ability to create data models. Power BI lets you build custom data models from scratch or use templates to quickly get started. With its drag-and-drop interface, you can rapidly create powerful data models, define relationships between spreadsheets, and customize calculating using a wide range of preset formulas. This enables businesses to gain deeper insights from their data and uncover patterns and trends that may not be apparent initially.

Interactive visualizations

When it comes to identifying trends and patterns, Power BI’s interactive visualizations provide the perfect tool for the job. This feature allows you to quickly create sophisticated visualizations such as bar charts, line charts, pie charts, maps, and more. From there, you can easily interact with your data and drill down into details to gain a better understanding of the underlying trends. You can even customize visualizations to track the metrics that matter most to your business.

AI-powered insights

The great thing about Power BI is that it’s not just a data visualization tool. It also leverages artificial intelligence to predict future trends and outcomes. This means businesses can use Power BI to make intelligent projections and forecasts that will help them make better decisions down the road. For instance, Power BI can provide realistic cash flow projections throughout the year based on historical data, allowing companies to make smarter budgeting decisions.

Collaborative reporting

Power BI enables businesses to create and share interactive reports and dashboards with their team and other stakeholders. This promotes collaboration and allows for real-time data analysis and decision-making. Users can also set up alerts and notifications to receive updates on key metrics or changes in data, ensuring that decision-makers are always informed and can take prompt action when needed.

Power BI can be an invaluable tool for businesses that are looking to carve out a competitive advantage. If you want to elevate your decision-making process, Power BI may be just the right tool for you. Call us today to learn more about how we can help you make the most of Power BI and its features.

Imagine having an application that could identify opportunities for growth and help you make the right moves. With Microsoft Power BI, this is no longer a pipe dream but a reality. Power BI offers a comprehensive set of tools that help you analyze data, identify trends, and stay competitive. Here’s how Power BI can empower businesses with foresight.

Data integration

Power BI allows organizations to connect to various data sources, such as databases, spreadsheets, cloud-based services, and APIs, to consolidate and transform data into a unified view. This enables businesses to have a holistic view of their data and make informed decisions based on accurate and up-to-date information.

Data modeling

To make sense of large amounts of data, you need to have the ability to create data models. Power BI lets you build custom data models from scratch or use templates to quickly get started. With its drag-and-drop interface, you can rapidly create powerful data models, define relationships between spreadsheets, and customize calculating using a wide range of preset formulas. This enables businesses to gain deeper insights from their data and uncover patterns and trends that may not be apparent initially.

Interactive visualizations

When it comes to identifying trends and patterns, Power BI’s interactive visualizations provide the perfect tool for the job. This feature allows you to quickly create sophisticated visualizations such as bar charts, line charts, pie charts, maps, and more. From there, you can easily interact with your data and drill down into details to gain a better understanding of the underlying trends. You can even customize visualizations to track the metrics that matter most to your business.

AI-powered insights

The great thing about Power BI is that it’s not just a data visualization tool. It also leverages artificial intelligence to predict future trends and outcomes. This means businesses can use Power BI to make intelligent projections and forecasts that will help them make better decisions down the road. For instance, Power BI can provide realistic cash flow projections throughout the year based on historical data, allowing companies to make smarter budgeting decisions.

Collaborative reporting

Power BI enables businesses to create and share interactive reports and dashboards with their team and other stakeholders. This promotes collaboration and allows for real-time data analysis and decision-making. Users can also set up alerts and notifications to receive updates on key metrics or changes in data, ensuring that decision-makers are always informed and can take prompt action when needed.

Power BI can be an invaluable tool for businesses that are looking to carve out a competitive advantage. If you want to elevate your decision-making process, Power BI may be just the right tool for you. Call us today to learn more about how we can help you make the most of Power BI and its features.

Making the right business strategies relies heavily on data analysis and timely insights. With Microsoft Power BI, businesses can access vast amounts of relevant data quickly and easily, turning it into actionable information to support their decision-making processes. In this article, we’ll explore how Power BI can help businesses make data-driven decisions.

Data integration

Power BI allows organizations to connect to various data sources, such as databases, spreadsheets, cloud-based services, and APIs, to consolidate and transform data into a unified view. This enables businesses to have a holistic view of their data and make informed decisions based on accurate and up-to-date information.

Data modeling

To make sense of large amounts of data, you need to have the ability to create data models. Power BI lets you build custom data models from scratch or use templates to quickly get started. With its drag-and-drop interface, you can rapidly create powerful data models, define relationships between spreadsheets, and customize calculating using a wide range of preset formulas. This enables businesses to gain deeper insights from their data and uncover patterns and trends that may not be apparent initially.

Interactive visualizations

When it comes to identifying trends and patterns, Power BI’s interactive visualizations provide the perfect tool for the job. This feature allows you to quickly create sophisticated visualizations such as bar charts, line charts, pie charts, maps, and more. From there, you can easily interact with your data and drill down into details to gain a better understanding of the underlying trends. You can even customize visualizations to track the metrics that matter most to your business.

AI-powered insights

The great thing about Power BI is that it’s not just a data visualization tool. It also leverages artificial intelligence to predict future trends and outcomes. This means businesses can use Power BI to make intelligent projections and forecasts that will help them make better decisions down the road. For instance, Power BI can provide realistic cash flow projections throughout the year based on historical data, allowing companies to make smarter budgeting decisions.

Collaborative reporting

Power BI enables businesses to create and share interactive reports and dashboards with their team and other stakeholders. This promotes collaboration and allows for real-time data analysis and decision-making. Users can also set up alerts and notifications to receive updates on key metrics or changes in data, ensuring that decision-makers are always informed and can take prompt action when needed.

Power BI can be an invaluable tool for businesses that are looking to carve out a competitive advantage. If you want to elevate your decision-making process, Power BI may be just the right tool for you. Call us today to learn more about how we can help you make the most of Power BI and its features.

Having Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 chips is mandatory for devices of users looking to install or migrate to Windows 11. Unfortunately, many computers that are two or three years old don’t have this chip. This may require you to purchase new devices just to run Windows 11. While there are ways to bypass this TPM requirement, it’s not advisable for many reasons.

What is a TPM chip?

A TPM is a security chip that’s commonly found in the latest smartphones and PCs. It provides a hardware-based, tamper-resistant environment to create, store, and safeguard encryption keys in order to ensure secure access to data stored on a device. So if an unauthorized person gains access to your device and tries to tamper with your encrypted drives, the chip will stop the device from booting up.

Some apps and web services also use TPMs. For example, Outlook uses a TPM for managing encrypted emails. On the other hand, web browsers use TPM to store SSL certificates that are used to authenticate and create encrypted connections with websites.

Why shouldn’t you bypass Windows 11’s TPM requirement?

Some users find Windows 11’s TPM 2.0 requirement too restrictive. After all, they were able to use Windows 10 securely with just TPM 1.2 embedded in their devices. This has led them to search for ways to circumvent the TPM restriction so that their devices that don’t have the TPM 2.0 chip can still run the new OS. However, we recommend abiding by Windows 11’s hardware requirements instead for these reasons.

TPM 2.0 is more secure than TPM 1.2
TPM 2.0 provides higher levels of security, as it supports more and newer cryptographic algorithms than its predecessors. This enables it to create stronger keys, making devices that use it more challenging for cybercriminals to compromise.

Compatibility issues may arise
Before releasing Windows 11, Microsoft tested the OS extensively on supported devices. This means that running Windows 11 on devices that don’t meet the hardware requirements may lead to compatibility issues that can create problems, such as glitches and even outright failure. Addressing such problems may end up becoming more expensive than simply purchasing supported devices to begin with.

Microsoft won’t release updates for unsupported devices
Software updates are extremely important. They don’t only enhance the user experience through new features and quality-of-life upgrades, but updates also improve the OS’s defenses against even the newest cyberthreats. This means not receiving updates will put your device and business IT systems at greater risk of cyberattacks.

If you’re tempted to circumvent Windows 11’s hardware requirements, particularly those related to security, just keep this adage in mind: “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

To learn more about Windows 11 and how you can make the most out of its features, get in touch with us.

While many users were looking forward to Windows 11 before its release in October 2021, many of them haven’t installed or migrated to the new operating system (OS). One possible reason for the slow adoption of the OS is that Microsoft has made it mandatory for devices to have Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 chips.

What is a TPM chip?

A TPM is a security chip that’s commonly found in the latest smartphones and PCs. It provides a hardware-based, tamper-resistant environment to create, store, and safeguard encryption keys in order to ensure secure access to data stored on a device. So if an unauthorized person gains access to your device and tries to tamper with your encrypted drives, the chip will stop the device from booting up.

Some apps and web services also use TPMs. For example, Outlook uses a TPM for managing encrypted emails. On the other hand, web browsers use TPM to store SSL certificates that are used to authenticate and create encrypted connections with websites.

Why shouldn’t you bypass Windows 11’s TPM requirement?

Some users find Windows 11’s TPM 2.0 requirement too restrictive. After all, they were able to use Windows 10 securely with just TPM 1.2 embedded in their devices. This has led them to search for ways to circumvent the TPM restriction so that their devices that don’t have the TPM 2.0 chip can still run the new OS. However, we recommend abiding by Windows 11’s hardware requirements instead for these reasons.

TPM 2.0 is more secure than TPM 1.2
TPM 2.0 provides higher levels of security, as it supports more and newer cryptographic algorithms than its predecessors. This enables it to create stronger keys, making devices that use it more challenging for cybercriminals to compromise.

Compatibility issues may arise
Before releasing Windows 11, Microsoft tested the OS extensively on supported devices. This means that running Windows 11 on devices that don’t meet the hardware requirements may lead to compatibility issues that can create problems, such as glitches and even outright failure. Addressing such problems may end up becoming more expensive than simply purchasing supported devices to begin with.

Microsoft won’t release updates for unsupported devices
Software updates are extremely important. They don’t only enhance the user experience through new features and quality-of-life upgrades, but updates also improve the OS’s defenses against even the newest cyberthreats. This means not receiving updates will put your device and business IT systems at greater risk of cyberattacks.

If you’re tempted to circumvent Windows 11’s hardware requirements, particularly those related to security, just keep this adage in mind: “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

To learn more about Windows 11 and how you can make the most out of its features, get in touch with us.

Microsoft released Windows 11 in October 2021. As of October 2022, only 15.44% of PCs around the world run the new operating system (OS); 71.29% are still using Windows 10. One possible reason for the slow adoption of the new OS is that Windows 11 would not install on devices that lack Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 chips.

What is a TPM chip?

A TPM is a security chip that’s commonly found in the latest smartphones and PCs. It provides a hardware-based, tamper-resistant environment to create, store, and safeguard encryption keys in order to ensure secure access to data stored on a device. So if an unauthorized person gains access to your device and tries to tamper with your encrypted drives, the chip will stop the device from booting up.

Some apps and web services also use TPMs. For example, Outlook uses a TPM for managing encrypted emails. On the other hand, web browsers use TPM to store SSL certificates that are used to authenticate and create encrypted connections with websites.

Why shouldn’t you bypass Windows 11’s TPM requirement?

Some users find Windows 11’s TPM 2.0 requirement too restrictive. After all, they were able to use Windows 10 securely with just TPM 1.2 embedded in their devices. This has led them to search for ways to circumvent the TPM restriction so that their devices that don’t have the TPM 2.0 chip can still run the new OS. However, we recommend abiding by Windows 11’s hardware requirements instead for these reasons.

TPM 2.0 is more secure than TPM 1.2
TPM 2.0 provides higher levels of security, as it supports more and newer cryptographic algorithms than its predecessors. This enables it to create stronger keys, making devices that use it more challenging for cybercriminals to compromise.

Compatibility issues may arise
Before releasing Windows 11, Microsoft tested the OS extensively on supported devices. This means that running Windows 11 on devices that don’t meet the hardware requirements may lead to compatibility issues that can create problems, such as glitches and even outright failure. Addressing such problems may end up becoming more expensive than simply purchasing supported devices to begin with.

Microsoft won’t release updates for unsupported devices
Software updates are extremely important. They don’t only enhance the user experience through new features and quality-of-life upgrades, but updates also improve the OS’s defenses against even the newest cyberthreats. This means not receiving updates will put your device and business IT systems at greater risk of cyberattacks.

If you’re tempted to circumvent Windows 11’s hardware requirements, particularly those related to security, just keep this adage in mind: “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

To learn more about Windows 11 and how you can make the most out of its features, get in touch with us.

Microsoft is the latest tech giant to be caught in the cross-hairs of Germany’s antitrust authority.

The Federal Cartel Office (FCO), aka the Bundeskartellamt, has announced it’s opened a proceeding to determine whether special abuse measures can be applied to the company’s business in Germany — citing Microsoft’s extensive digital ecosystem which it noted cuts across multiple markets, including operating systems and office software; cloud computing; gaming; professional networking; Internet search; and — latterly — novel AI applications.

Commenting in a statement, Andreas Mundt, president of the FCO, said:

With Windows and its Office products Microsoft has had a long-standing and very strong position with regard to operating systems and office software. Based on this, the company has continuously expanded its product range both for business customers and consumers. More recently, we have seen a strong increase in the importance of the cloud services Azure and OneDrive, which are often linked to other Microsoft applications, and the resounding success of Teams, a software for video conferences and collaborative working. In addition, Microsoft is also active in other areas, including gaming with its Xbox, career networks with its service LinkedIn or internet searching with its search engine Bing. Most recently, the company has attracted attention with the integration of AI applications. In light of this, there are good reasons to examine whether Microsoft is of paramount significance for competition across markets. Such a finding would allow us to take action at an early stage and prohibit possible anti-competitive practices.

Earlier FCO reviews of Google, Meta and Amazon already confirmed the special abuse control regime applies to their businesses (although Amazon is appealing) — dialling up the regulator’s ability to act against anti-competitive behavior by drawing on updated powers which are designed to target digital giants with so-called “paramount significance for competition across markets”.

Back in June 2021, the FCO also announced a proceeding to review Apple’s market power — which it noted today is “well advanced”. But it did not confirm when it would take a decision on Cupertino.

The German regime offers a taster of what’s coming down the pipe across the European Union as the Digital Markets Act (DMA) comes into application later this year.

That said, the EU’s ex ante competition regime takes a slightly different tack, laying out a set of up-front ‘dos and don’ts’ for platforms that are designated as so-called “gatekeepers”, whereas the FCO has more leeway to decide what strictures to apply to tech giants that meet the local bar of having “paramount significance” for competition in Germany across digital markets.

The FCO is also more advanced along this road of a more proactive approach to regulating digital giants, with the update to the German competition regime applied at the start of 2021; and now, a couple of years later, a clutch of designations in place — as well as some notable policy swerves to show for it: Such as Google offering not to put News Showcase results into search; and Meta untying its VR headsets from its social accounts.

So while the EU will still be classifying gatekeepers (up to September) this year, with the DMA then allowing until March 2024 for compliance, the FCO has done a bunch of that foundational legwork already — and, in several cases, is empowered to intervene if it suspects anti-competitive by tech giants, cutting the time it can act on Big Tech competition concerns.

In the case of Microsoft, the FCO emphasized that today’s proceeding does not “yet” mean it’s taking formal steps to assess specific practices the company is engaged in. However its press release offers a clear warning, writing: “If complaints or other information suggest that there are indications of Microsoft engaging in potentially anti-competitive practices, a separate decision will have to be issued in this matter — also in consultation with the European Commission and possibly other competition authorities.”

A report in Bloomberg earlier this week suggested Microsoft has been seeking to apply data restrictions on users of its search index to prevent them developing their own AI chatbots — apparently to try to ensure OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology, which the tech giant is a major investor in, retains the lead in the generative AI race (and therefore that Microsoft also remains ahead of the pack, with even other giants like Google scrambling to keep up).

While Microsoft was regularly in the cross hairs of antitrust regulators back in the nineties up to the early noughties, it has enjoyed something of a lighter touch on the competition scrutiny front over the last decade or so — during which time it’s steadily expanded and deepened its business across multiple digital markets, including healthcare, digital advertising and gaming, to name a few.

Most recently, as noted above, it’s been close to the center of the buzz around so-called AI search — through its investment in (and partnership with) OpenAI, a former not-for-profit turned capped-profit AI developer, whose technology underpins the ‘new Bing‘. So reports that Microsoft is trying to throw its weight about to try to quash rivals’ ability to develop their own AI models could certainly trigger competition concerns.

Microsoft was contacted for comment on the Bundeskartellamt’s proceeding. A company spokesperson sent us this statement:

As a major technology company, we are mindful of our heightened responsibility to support a healthy competitive environment. We will engage constructively with the Bundeskartellamt as they seek to understand our role in digital markets.

Germany probes Microsoft’s market power by Natasha Lomas originally published on TechCrunch