Microsoft and anti-competitive issues seem very difficult to separate. Previously, the technology company was seen to have unified the offering of Microsoft Office office productivity software and Microsoft Teams teleconferencing software in a Microsoft Office 365 bundle.
However, this has been met with opposition from Slack who say that this combination gives Microsoft an advantage that no other party can offer. Because of this, they have started offering subscriptions of these two software separately in the European region.
This matter seems to be extended to the global market after this, where Microsoft announced that on April 1, they will update their Microsoft 365 and Office 365 offerings to not be present with Microsoft Teams. The difference here is that customers will now be given the option to either continue with the existing plan, or to subscribe to the new plan, which is expected to come with a cheaper price tag, but no Teams support.
This plan is seen to benefit ordinary users who only use Office productivity software, but there is no need for Teams teleconferencing software which is the average of many corporate users.
We have asked Microsoft Malaysia whether this latest decision will affect Microsoft Office 365 customers. We will update this article with their response soon.