On Thursday, Microsoft announced its plans to decouple its chat and video application, Teams, from its Office suite in an effort to enhance compatibility with competing software products, as well as preempt a potential antitrust penalty from the European Union (EU). The decision follows a recent investigation initiated by the European Commission due to a complaint made by Slack, the workspace messaging app owned by Salesforce, in 2020.

Microsoft's initial concessions failed to alleviate the concerns raised by the EU competition enforcer, However, the company's fresh announcement has been acknowledged by the EU, which refrained from offering further commentary on the matter.

Teams was initially integrated into Office 365 in 2017, provided for free. It eventually supplanted Skype for Business and gained significant traction, particularly during the pandemic, largely attributed to its video conferencing capabilities. Microsoft aims to proactively address the EU's worries through these changes, even as the European Commission's investigation remains ongoing.

Nanna-Louise Linde, Microsoft's Vice President for European Government Affairs, stated in a blog post that the modifications target two main EU concerns: the ability for customers to opt for an Office suite without Teams at a lower cost, and the facilitation of interoperability between competing communication and collaboration solutions, Microsoft 365, and Office 365 suites.

These modifications, slated to become effective on October 1, will exclusively apply to Europe and Switzerland. The revised approach will offer Office minus Teams at a reduced price, a deduction of 2 euros per month or 24 euros ($26.17) annually, primarily targeting Microsoft's core enterprise clientele in Europe. New enterprise customers will have the option to purchase Teams as a standalone product for 5 euros per month or 60 euros per year. Existing enterprise clients who are already utilising a suite inclusive of Teams can elect to retain their current setup or transition to a suite that doesn't include Teams.

Microsoft will also introduce additional support resources to aid customers and independent software vendors seeking to extract data from Teams for use in alternative products. Furthermore, the company plans to develop a novel method for hosting Office web applications within competing applications and services, akin to its strategy with Teams.

For Microsoft, the stakes are considerable as it navigates this situation. The tech giant previously faced 2.2 billion euros ($2.40 billion) in EU antitrust fines over the past decade for bundling or tying multiple products together.

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