How Microsoft Is Pushing OneDrive and Teams Over Rivals With Windows
If you recently upgraded to Windows 10, you may have noticed that OneDrive and Teams are now forced onto the operating system, regardless of whether you want them or not. Microsoft has come under fire for this due to the fact that it appears to be using Windows in order to promote its own software over third-party options, despite not having the best reputation when it comes to such matters itself. Here’s everything you need to know about Microsoft’s controversial decision with regards to OneDrive and Teams on Windows 10.
What Microsoft did
Microsoft is accused of using its dominant position in the computer operating system market to push its own cloud storage and messaging services over rivals. It comes at a time when the company is facing increased scrutiny from regulators. In December, the European Commission hit Microsoft with a $5 billion antitrust fine for failing to offer users a choice of web browser, while also opening an investigation into how it bundles applications on Android devices. Google also complained that it had been wrongfully banned from selling its Pixel smartphones on Amazon’s site last month.
Why it worked
Microsoft is using its dominant position in the PC space to push its own cloud storage offerings over rivals. In particular, the company has been making it hard for users to disable or remove OneDrive from their PC, as well as bundling Office 365 ProPlus (which includes a free, one-year subscription to Office 365 Personal) with Windows 10 Pro. By doing this, Microsoft hopes that it will encourage more people to use its cloud storage services instead of rivals like Dropbox or Google Drive.
Why you should care
Microsoft is accused of using its monopoly position in the PC operating system market to push its cloud-based storage services over competitors. The company has allegedly been using Windows 10 to make it difficult or impossible for users to set preferences for third-party cloud storage services like Dropbox, Google Drive, or Box without also setting OneDrive as their default.
What you can do
Microsoft has been accused of using Windows to push its own services over other competitors.
While the company has denied these claims, it’s worth noting that when installing a new version of Windows 10 on a PC, users are given the option to install OneDrive and Teams.
If they choose not to install these apps, they’ll have to go through a separate download process.
This practice is seen as an attempt by Microsoft to force users into using their own products rather than competitors’ offerings.
