According The Financial Times Y Bloomberg, Microsoft and Google signed a truce 6 years ago to avoid legal battles. However, it seems that this “non-aggression pact” has come to an end last April. The two North American giants have a free hand to take up arms again. Google could already have taken the first steps.
A 6-year truce coming to an end
As reported The Verge, we already have before us some clues that the truce has expired. Recently, Google has publicly attacked Microsoft for trying “Break the way the open web works”, shortly after the company founded by Gates and Allen supported a lawsuit in Australia that sought to force Google to pay the media for its content. Microsoft also criticized Google’s near-monopoly control of the ad market, leaving the media forced to use the tools of the “Big G”.
According The Financial Times, This agreement between the two giants was intended to go a step further and favor cooperation between both companies. However, it is something that we have hardly seen evidence of and, the few that we have seen, have been undirectional, such as Microsoft’s contributions to the Chromium open source project.
Microsoft and Google: Ready for War
Those in Redmond hoped to integrate Google Play into the Microsoft Store in Windows 11. However, in the end it has not been possible and they have had to look towards Amazon and its modest app store. It is not the first time that Google has sought to take advantage of its position to put stones in Microsoft’s path. Does anyone remember the total absence of Google applications on Windows Phone throughout its existence? And the lawsuit filed by Google to withdraw the YouTube application for Windows Phone developed by Microsoft?
Although the most tense moments were lived under the mandates of other leaders (such as the famous campaign of Scroogled promoted by Microsoft), nothing guarantees that we cannot relive something similar. The new Microsoft seeks much less confrontation than its predecessor, but it is still a technological giant that will do whatever it deems necessary to defend its interests. Has Google already thrown the first stone by not allowing the integration of Google Play in Windows 11?