Microsoft And Google Make Peace After A Decade Of Disputes

Washington DC: American multinational technology companies Microsoft and Google have mend peace after the European Union (EU) antitrust watchdogs sent the search-engine company another statement of objections partly triggered by Microsoft-backed lobbying.

Microsoft and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, two arch rivals in the U.S. technology world for more than a decade, reached a global agreement that they will stop fighting.

A statement released by Google on Friday said: “Our companies compete vigorously, but we want to do so on the merits of our products, not in legal proceedings. As a result, following our patent agreement, we’ve now agreed to withdraw regulatory complaints against one another.”

The acrimonious relationship had already started to thaw, with the duo resolving their long-running patent feud and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella congratulating Sundar Pichai when he was named CEO of Google. The businesses are working together on Google’s Angular JavaScript development framework, which is now making use of Microsoft’s Typescript programming language and the two companies have sent emissaries to speak about it at one another’s conferences.

The clash was most pronounced in Brussels, where Microsoft urged EU regulators to dish out similar treatment to its rival after being on the receiving end of vast antitrust fines.

Microsoft was once the most active and powerful forces in lobbying the EU to investigate Google’s search practices. It helped to fund ICOMP, an industry group that aided many of smaller companies complaining about Google.

Microsoft was among the first to file antitrust complaints against Google that ultimately led to this week’s statement of objections concerning its Android mobile-operating system. Microsoft’s finger prints were also on last year’s EU charge sheet over Google’s comparison-shopping service.

Cementing the new relationship, Microsoft said Friday it had agreed to “withdraw its regulatory complaints against Google, reflecting our changing legal priorities” and that it will “continue to focus on competing vigorously for business and for customers.”