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Microsoft

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Microsoft Corporation was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is one of the "Big Five" tech giants, well known for licensing Q-DOS from Seattle Computer Products as MS-DOS prior to purchasing it in 1980, as well as being known for Windows, the graphical extension to MS-DOS. They have developed the Microsoft Office Suite: Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word; the Xbox under the Microsoft Gaming division; the Surface line of laptop devices; and the cloud platform Azure.[1][2]

Microsoft
Basic information
Founded 1975
Legal Structure Public
Industry Information Technology
Also known as Microsoft Corporation
Official website https://www.microsoft.com/

Through acquisitions, Microsoft owns numerous other tech-related businesses.[3]. Their most notable acquisitions include Skype, LinkedIn, Github and Activision Blizzard.

They also invest heavily in artificial intelligence enterprises like OpenAI (best known for creating ChatGPT).[4]

Consumer impact summary

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Microsoft has engaged in significant anti-consumer and anti-competitive practices, often leading to lawsuits in relating to allegations of monopolistic behavior. Such lawsuits have featured Microsoft's practices of bundling Internet Explorer (and later, the Edge browser) with the Windows operating system, signing exclusive deals with original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to stifle competition, using "embrace, extend, extinguish" tactics to eliminate competitors, and other incidents. Microsoft was also featured within the Snowden leaks as being engaged in mass surveillance through the PRISM program[5] and has been reported on for removing content from Bing to appease the Chinese government[6]. Microsoft also has a rich and plentiful history of data breaches. Many services that Microsoft offers have been forcibly accessed into by malicious and white hat hackers.[7]

Anti-competitive lawsuits

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US Department of Justice, U.S. v. Microsoft Corp. (1998-2001)

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In a major antitrust case brought by the US Department of Justice, U.S. v. Microsoft Corp., 253 F.3d 34 (D.C. Cir. 2001)[8], Microsoft argued that there was no barrier to entry in the market they operated in. A central issue at that time was whether Microsoft could bundle the web browser Internet Explorer with the Microsoft Windows operating system. The District Court stated the following in the court case:

"The District Court condemned a number of provisions in Microsoft's agreements licensing Windows to OEMs, because it found that Microsoft's imposition of those provisions (like many of Microsoft's other actions at issue in this case) serves to reduce usage share of Netscape's browser and, hence, protect Microsoft's operating system monopoly."

The court specifically identified three main license restrictions for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) that were considered problematic:

  1. The prohibition upon the removal of desktop icons, folders, and Start menu entries
  2. The prohibition of modifying the initial boot sequence
  3. The prohibition of otherwise altering the appearance of the Windows desktop

The case was eventually settled[9][10] and did not result in a company breakup.[11]

Section III.H of the Consent Decree[12] required Microsoft to "allow end users and OEMs to enable or remove access to all middleware products­, including web browsers, e-mail clients, and media players ­through a readily accessible, centralized mechanism." End users and Original Equipment Manufacturers should be able "to specify a non-Microsoft middleware product as the default middleware product to be launched in place of the corresponding Microsoft middleware product."

In the case United States v. Microsoft Corp., 87 F. Supp. 2d 30 (D.D.C. 2000),[13] Microsoft's conduct in totality was described as a "deliberate assault upon entrepreneurial efforts that, could well have enabled the introduction of competition into the market for Intel-compatible PC operating systems". Furthermore, "Microsoft's anti-competitive actions trammeled the competitive process through which the computer software industry generally stimulates innovation and conduces to the optimum benefit of consumers."

Summary of anti-competitive practices alleged in this lawsuit

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  • Slowing development of rival products like IBM and Apple through contractual or technical barriers.[14]
  • Overcharging consumers by $20–30 billion total for Windows licenses in the 1990s by hiding costs in PC bundles.[14]
  • Degrading interoperability of competing software (e.g., Java, Netscape) with Windows. [14]
  • Blocking rivals' distribution channels by signing exclusive deals with PC manufacturers and ISPs. [14]

Microsoft Corp. v Commission of the European Communities (2004-2007)

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The EU began an investigation of Microsoft in 1998 following a complaint by Sun Microsystems for not disclosing some interfaces to Windows NT. In August 2001, the EU expanded the investigation to look at how streaming media technology has been integrated into Windows.[15] Microsoft was found guilty of illegally abusing its dominant position in the operating system market[16] in order to dominate the entertainment market and push out competitors. It did this by bundling Windows Media Player with the Windows operating system, despite them being two distinct products, allowing "that media player automatically to achieve a level of market penetration corresponding to that of the dominant undertaking’s client PC operating system, without having to compete on the merits with competing products".[16]

The case was settled and Microsoft was fined €497 million ($613 million) - the largest fine issued by the EU for abuse of a dominant position at the time[17] - as well as having to provide a version of its Windows operating system without a bundled media player[18] (called Windows XP Home Edition N[19][20]). However, this ruling could be seen as insufficient to reduce Microsoft's monopolistic control as the company priced it the same as its bundled counterpart and the ruling didn't prevent them from selling Windows XP Home Edition. Consumer interest was low, and major Original Equipment Manufacturers did not pre-install Windows XP N on their computers[21].

See also: Microsoft Corp. v European Commission (Wikipedia)

JJH Enterprises Limited (trading as ValueLicensing) v Microsoft Corporation and Others (2021-ongoing)

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Valuelicensing, a UK reseller of software licenses, sued[22] Microsoft for "suppressing the availability of preowned perpetual licences" and restricting customers from reselling old licenses in exchange for more favourable terms on newer, subscription-based models[23], claiming £270 million in damages[24].

Ongoing UK lawsuit for overcharging users of non Azure cloud services

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UK lawsuit alleges Windows Servers users were overcharged when using non Azure cloud services.[25]

Facing EU and UK lawsuits, Microsoft settled with some cloud vendors but retained practices criticized as unfair.[26]

Antitrust investigation by U.S.

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Making it costly or technically difficult for customers to migrate data from Azure to other platforms.[27]

Anti-competitive incidents

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Incident Date Started - Date Ended (if applicable) Incident summary Related Product Related article (if applicable)
Taking down Minecraft competitors 2019 - Present Microsoft has submitted various takedowns on games that compete against Minecraft,[28][29] which unfairly thins out competition against the game. Minecraft
Prompts to stop users from installing competing browsers 2021 - Present Users attempting to install other web browsers, such as Chrome, Brave, or Opera, will face a pop-up on their screen telling users to instead use Edge.[30][31] It has been reported to occur on devices running either Windows 10 or Windows 11,[32] which harms the market share of Chrome, despite Edge being based on Chromium. Microsoft Edge
Bing search attempting to harm competing search engines 2023 - Present When doing a web search for an alternative web browser through Bing, Microsoft's in-house developed search engine that is also used as the default for Edge, the search engine's AI will attempt to bury the search results for the web browser from the user.[33] Bing, Microsoft Edge
Bing disguising itself as another search engine 2025 - Present Currently, when a user does a web search for "Google", the search engine will disguise itself as a generic search engine that would appear to look like Google in the eyes of the average user.[34] Bing

Anti-consumer incidents

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Failure to handle quality assurance

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Main article: Microsoft's quality assurance failures

Microsoft has had an extensive history when it comes to failing to maintain the quality of its products.

Windows 3.1 AARD code

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Windows 3.1 AARD code

Users attempting to install a beta release of Windows 3.1 on a machine running DR-DOS would receive an error message stating "Non-fatal error detected: error #4D53 (Please contact Windows 3.1 beta support)". The error code was discovered by Geoff Chappell on April 17 1992.[35] DR DOS was capable of running Windows 3.1 as it is compatible with MS-DOS, but the AARD code in the installer used undocumented structures to detect if the machine was running DR DOS in order to display this message. The rationale was to pressure the user into buying MS-DOS: "What the [user] is supposed to do is feel uncomfortable, and when he has bugs, suspect that the problem is DR-DOS and then go out to buy MS-DOS," wrote Brad Silverberg, the senior vice president of Microsoft at the time, in a 1992 email.[36]

Inactive account deletions

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Microsoft has a deletion policy on inactive accounts in which accounts that are not used for 2 years or more may be scheduled to be deleted. Any account that has been locked for more than two years will also be considered "inactive" and will be closed. Before the deletion of the inactive account, users may get an email or text message warning that their account is scheduled to be deleted. Such policies could adversely affect those who had good reasons to become inactive for a long time, such as hospitalization, prison incarceration, and being in totalitarian countries which have prolonged internet shutdowns.[37]

Exceptions

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The following are the exceptions to the inactive account deletion policy as provided by Microsoft:

  • Purchases: If you have used your Microsoft account to purchase, or to redeem or access a purchase of, a current Microsoft product or service, your Microsoft account will remain active and Microsoft will not close your account due to inactivity. Note, this does not apply to gift cards, certifications or subscription-based purchases or services.
  • Subscriptions: Your Microsoft account will continue to remain active for so long as you have an active Microsoft subscription associated with your Microsoft account. Following the expiration or termination of the subscription, you must sign in to your Microsoft account at least once in a two-year period to keep your account active.
  • Publishing to the Microsoft Store: If you have used your Microsoft account to publish applications or games (including game DLCs) to the Microsoft Store or to register for a Microsoft Partner Center account, your Microsoft account will remain active and Microsoft will not close your account due to inactivity.
  • Certifications: If you earn a certification from Microsoft using your Microsoft account, your Microsoft account will remain active and Microsoft will not close your account due to inactivity.
  • Account Balance: Your Microsoft account will continue to remain active for so long as you have an unspent balance in your Microsoft account (e.g. from a Microsoft gift card or a credit from Microsoft). If you live in a jurisdiction where gift cards are considered “unclaimed property,” Microsoft will, pursuant to local law, escheat the unspent balance associated with your Microsoft gift card.
  • Accounts Payable: Your Microsoft account will continue to remain active for so long as there is an amount owed to you by Microsoft associated with your Microsoft account (e.g. amounts due to you from Microsoft Payment Central).
  • Family Accounts: If you have an inactive Microsoft account that has granted consent for an active Microsoft account belonging to a minor, Microsoft will not close your Microsoft account due to your inactivity. Your inactive Microsoft account will be kept open by Microsoft until the minor’s account (i) is deemed inactive and closed by Microsoft, (ii) is closed by you, or (iii) transitions into a standard Microsoft account when the minor reaches the requisite age of majority in their region.
  • Legal Requirements or as otherwise provided by Microsoft: Notwithstanding the foregoing, Microsoft reserves the right to maintain your account status as active, or not to close an inactive account, as required by applicable law or regulation, or as otherwise provided by Microsoft to you.

Edge

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Main article: Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge(Edge) is a Chromium-based [38] web browser that comes preinstalled with Windows 10 and later. It is the successor to IE.

Resetting primary browser (2017-present)

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Windows has frequently been resetting the default browser to Edge without consent.[citation needed - old link dead] While there are methods to disable this,[39] it is tedious to achieve, especially for users who are not tech-savvy.

Inability to delete (2018-present)

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During major updates for Windows, users have been reporting their installations of Edge being reinstalled to their devices without their consent.[40]

Importing content from other browsers (2020-?)

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Users have reported on frequent occasions that Edge has imported user data from browsers such as Chrome and Firefox without first requesting consent from the user.[41]

Pressuring users into using Edge (2020-?)

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In 2020, users for Windows 10 faced repeated harassment from Edge to use this browser instead of the user's chosen default browser.[42] Some examples included the browser opening on startup, the browser being forced into full screen, being incapable of closing the browser until the user acknowledges the pop-up, and the browser pinning itself to the taskbar.[43]

Removal of 365 features to push Copilot (2025)

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Eliminated key search features in 365[44][45], forcing users to pay $30/month for Copilot access, sparking backlash from businesses and educators.[citation needed] The FTC and DOJ are reportedly investigating, with Elon Musk alleging antitrust violations in its OpenAI partnership.[46]

Increasing the difficulty to switch default browsers (2021 - Present)

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After an update in 2021, computers running Windows 11 had the systems that handled modifying the web browser defaults.[47] Rather than allow the user to simply switch the default web browser, file types typically accessed via web browsers, such as HTM, HTML, SVG, and more have to be individually modified to have the default opening application changed. This has angered companies maintaining competing web browsers[47][48] and consumers alike over this change. Even if users modify all of these default settings, other features on the device, such as the taskbar's weather widget, which if opened, will create a new tab specifically in Edge.[47]Microsoft attempts to justify this by stating:[47]

“With Windows 11, we are implementing customer feedback to customize and control defaults at a more granular level, eliminating app categories and elevating all apps to the forefront of the defaults experience,” “As evidenced by this change, we’re constantly listening and learning, and welcome customer feedback that helps shape Windows. Windows 11 will continue to evolve over time; if we learn from user experience that there are ways to make improvements, we will do so.”

Minecraft

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Main article: Minecraft account migration

Following Microsoft's acquisition of Minecraft, they have started forcing account migration to users who already had a Mojang account to a Microsoft account. The company gave users a grace period for account migration, after which users would have to purchase Minecraft again if the Mojang account was not migrated.[49]

Office 365 Suite

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Main article: Microsoft Office 365

The Office 365 program has been facing a number of issues in recent years, with allegations of forced upsell and forced implementation of OneDrive.

Microsoft Windows

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Main article: Microsoft Windows

Telemetry

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Windows 10 and 11 are configured to send telemetry by default[50][51], and users may only switch it to a reduced mode, without actually being able to easily disable it[52][53]. Only certain editions like the Enterprise version have options to switch it off[54], but a study conducted by the German ministry of information security in 2018 suggests that even this does not stop telemetry data collection completely[52].

Telemetry covers a wide variety of system information as well as a multitude of user interactions. Microsoft can configure remotely which and how much data and is collected from a particular system[citation needed]. This can go up to a level where all key presses are transmitted in real time[citation needed]. This makes telemetry very intransparent and difficult to monitor since the kind of data being collected could change at any moment without notice.[citation needed]

Windows 10

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The release of Windows 10 in 2015 marked a decade of taking away user choice through forced updates, resetting user preferences, and forced software installation.[55] Updates would be automatically scheduled when the computer is inactive, [56] leading to some systems being rendered unusable because of bugged updates that cannot be avoided.[57][58] Some updates would force changes on preferences set by the user for various applications and settings.[59][60][61]

Additionally, Microsoft Windows installs software, such as Candy Crush, on computers that the user did not ask for.[62] This may also force users to agree to licensing terms, for instance when interacting with forcibly installed software to remove it.[citation needed]

When Windows 10 is installed from the ISO that can be downloaded from Microsoft, the EULA explicitly mentions forced arbitration.[63]

Windows 11

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Main article: Microsoft Windows 11
TPM 2.0 chip requirements
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See also: Trusted computing

Microsoft updated their system requirements to include Trusted Platform Module 2.0 (TPM) support as a mandatory requirement for upgrading to Windows 11. This would require either a TPM-compatible CPU, or a separate TPM-dedicated chip to be installed on the motherboard, however some users were able to circumvent this requirement by editing the registry.[64] This change resulted in many customers selling or discarding their otherwise functional computers and hardware that did not meet the new system requirements.[65] Microsoft has been frequently reminding users of Windows 10 to upgrade their hardware to be compatible with Windows 11,[66][67] which has caused many users frequent agitation.[68]

Some advocacy groups, such as the End of Windows 10 campaign , have encouraged users with older PCs to switch to Linux instead.

Recall
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Main article: Microsoft Copilot's recall feature

In 2024, Microsoft unveiled Recall for Copilot+ PCs, marketed as a way for users to search through what they have done on their computer by recording their screen. This sparked controversy,[69] especially among security experts[70] who worried about the security of screenshots,[71] since it could easily document private information like social-security numbers, bank-account information, and passwords, as well as user browsing behavior. A Python script was developed, called "TotalRecall", that collects the screenshots and descriptions of these recordings,[72] proving the danger of Recall. This feature was delayed after backlash from users.[73]

In 2025, Microsoft re-released Recall,[74] with claims that the tool has resolved the security flaws and it coming disabled by default.[75] However, despite integrating better security, having this feature enabled continues to pose privacy risks for consumers, as it is only a matter of when a vulnerability is discovered for the problems both consumers and businesses initially had with the tool to resurface,[76][77] especially since it is difficult for users to inspect the screenshots that are taken by the tool.

Family Safety
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Main article: Microsoft's anticompetitive practices

A feature seen within Windows 11's parental controls is Family Safety. A key problem shown from this feature is that it can questionably ban certain applications from properly running on the device, with no notice to the administrator in charge of the device. In June 2025, this feature banned the string "Chrome",[78] which blocked the web browser Chrome from functioning.[79] Schools in particular use this feature on devices given out for students to complete classwork remotely, and as Chrome holds the majority market share of web browser usage, (65-70%)[80] there has been mass reports of students being unable to complete their classwork strictly due to this flaw.[81]

Currently, Microsoft has neglected to inform users on rolling out a fix in the future,[82] and the only solutions available to users is to either rename the executable on the affected device[78] or disable "Block inappropriate browsing" inside the Family Safety settings.[81]

Removal of WordPad
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Starting with Windows 11, version 24H2, WordPad, a word processor included with every version of Windows since Windows 95 was removed and would not be included with future clean installations. Microsoft recommended users to use Microsoft Word for rich text documents like .doc and .rtf, and Windows Notepad for plain text documents like .txt. Microsoft Word is included with Microsoft 365 for $69.99 a year, or with Office 2024 with a one-time purchase of $149.99.[83]

Microsoft account increasingly required
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Increasingly difficult to use a local account rather than a Microsoft account for installation and use of Windows.

 
An image of a Windows 10 installation, to illustrate the effort required to make an account unattached to a Microsoft account.

Numerous dark patterns have been implemented in the form of vague language and a confusing user interface, which hides the option to create a local-user without a Microsoft account under sub-menus and small text. This implementation, first launched under Windows 10 in 2015, continues into the Windows 11 installation process. In March 2025, Microsoft announced that the creation of a Microsoft account would be mandatory when downloading Windows 11, claiming that the decision would tighten security and streamline the user experience (see Deceptive language frequently used against consumers).[84] On occasion, Microsoft accounts have been unilaterally disabled by Microsoft. The default experience with a Microsoft account and trusted computing is that if something goes wrong with the computer, you are likely to lose all your data. Experienced users know to backup credentials to minimize this risk, however Microsoft sets most users up for failure.

Discontinued support for Windows Mixed Reality (WMR)
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Main article: Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) discontinuation

Beginning with Windows 11 version 24H2, Microsoft no longer supports Windows Mixed Reality, and all support for the platform will end November 1, 2027. This affects device models from manufacturers including Samsung, HP, Lenovo, Acer, Dell, and Microsoft - including their own flagship device, Microsoft HoloLens. Users who wish to continue using these devices must either use Windows 10 or block the 24H2 update from being installed.[85]

Xbox

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Main article: xbox

Xbox 360 Defect - The "Red Ring of Death"

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Main article: Bumpgate

In 2005, Microsoft released the Xbox 360. Not long after, consumers began reporting an issue with their consoles of three red flashing lights on the ring around the power button. This was coined by consumers as the "Red Ring of Death", and by 2007, Xbox's hardware engineers eventually discovered that the reason for it was a defect in the Xbox 360's GPU.[86]

For several months of this incident's prevalence in 2006, consumers had to pay to get their consoles fixed by Microsoft if the console was outside of its one year warranty. However, by September 2007, they chose to extend the warranty to three years from the date of original purchase, and they refunded anyone who had previously paid to get this issue fixed[87]. Some current and former employees' comments in the Xbox documentary, Power On: The Story of Xbox reveal that Microsoft may have done this to rescue the Xbox brand.[26] Nonetheless, this was beneficial to consumers who had made an investment in and enjoyed games from Microsoft's console.

Xbox

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  • Online activation
Requiring internet connectivity to set up Xbox consoles or install physical game discs, even for single-player modes.[88]
  • DRM
Xbox Series X/S games demand online verification for disc-based installations, rendering offline play difficult.[88]
  • Xbox storage monopolization
Xbox Series X/S uses a proprietary Storage Expansion Card that costs more when compared to industry standard storage.[89]
  • Encrypted Storage
Xbox Series X/S consoles have a removable solid-state drive (SSD), yet they contain an encrypted partition with a key that is married to the motherboard. This key changes after each system update, making it difficult to replace the drive[90]. Xbox One consoles allowed users to easily replace the hard disk drive (HDD) as needed since the hard drives did not contain such encryption[91]. Though technically possible to replace HDDs on the Xbox 360, replacement drives have to be modified to report original drive information (like serial number) and in some cases cannot utilize all the storage available on a drive[92][93]. For the original Xbox, the hard drive was married to the motherboard, but if the console was modified with custom firmware, users could easily replace the drive[94].
  • Ending Third-Party Wireless Controller Support
Support for third-party wireless controllers was ended in October 2023. Users were given a two week warning before their devices could no longer be used wirelessly unless the manufacturer paid a licensing fee.

Removal of games

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In early September 2016, Microsoft shut down Xbox Live Indie Games,[95] and in late July 2024, Microsoft shut down its storefront for Xbox 360 games.[96] These shutdowns have made it impossible to obtain new copies of, or in some cases, play, hundreds of games within the legacy Xbox library.

Other

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Collaboration with surveillance

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Working with the NSA and FBI to bypass encryption (PRISM program) and access user data (Skype, Outlook).[5]

Recurring billing traps

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Defaulting users into subscription auto-renewals while making cancellation processes opaque.[97][citation needed - better source than just support forum]

See Also

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Microsoft Office 365, an article on Microsoft's Office 365 subscription service which includes how to avoid the $30 price increase at the start.

Cross-platform limitations and consumer impact of Microsoft Authenticator multi-factor authentication.

References

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  1. ↑ Zachary, Gregg Pascal; Hall, Mark; Montevirgen, Karl. "Microsoft-Corporation". britannica.com. Archived from the original on 13 Jan 2026.
  2. ↑ Miller, Michael (August 12, 2021). "The Rise of DOS: How Microsoft Got the IBM PC OS Contract". PCmag. Archived from the original on 18 Dec 2025.
  3. ↑ "List of mergers and acquisitions by Microsoft". Wikipedia. Archived from the original on 2 Jan 2026.
  4. ↑ Vincent, James (July 22, 2019). "Microsoft invests $1 billion in OpenAI to pursue holy grail of artificial intelligence". The Verge. Archived from the original on 12 Nov 2025.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Snowden Reveals Microsoft PRISM Cooperation: Helped NSA Decrypt Emails, Chats, Skype Conversations". International Business Times. July 11, 2011. Archived from the original on 2025-07-01. Retrieved 2025-08-18.
  6. ↑ Nicholas, Kristof (2009-11-20). "Boycott Microsoft Bing". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-11-23. Retrieved 2025-08-18.
  7. ↑ Heiligenstein, Michael (2024-02-20). "Microsoft Data Breaches: Full Timeline Through 2024". Firewall Times. Archived from the original on 2025-05-02. Retrieved 2025-08-17.
  8. ↑ "U.S. v. Microsoft Corp., 253 F.3d 34 (D.C. Cir. 2001)". JUSTIA U.S. Law. 2001-06-28. Archived from the original on 2011-04-13. Retrieved 2025-08-19.
  9. ↑ "Final judgment of US v. Microsoft" - justice.gov - accessed 2025-01-29 (Archived)
  10. ↑ "Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Ex Rel., Appellant, v. Microsoft Corporation" - law.justia.com - accessed 2025-01-29 (Archived)
  11. ↑ "Long antitrust saga ends for Microsoft" - seattletimes.com - accessed 2025-01-29 (Archived)
  12. ↑ "Microsoft Consent Decree Compliance Advisory - August 1, 2003 : U.S. V. Microsoft" - justice.gov - accessed 2025-01-29 (Archived)
  13. ↑ "United States v. Microsoft Corp., 87 F. Supp. 2d 30 (D.D.C. 2000)" - law.justia.com - accessed 2025-01-29 (Archived)
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 "Competitive Processes, Anticompetitive Practices And Consumer Harm In The Software Industry: An Analysis Of The Inadequacies Of The Microsoft-Department Of Justice Proposed Final Judgment". justice.gov. U.S. Department Of Justice. 2002-01-25. Archived from the original on 2017-11-15. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  15. ↑ McCullagh, Declan (2002-07-01). "EU looks to wrap up Microsoft probe". CNET. Archived from the original on 22 Feb 2026. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "EUR-Lex - 62004TJ0201 - Judgment of the Court of First Instance (Grand Chamber) of 17 September 2007. Microsoft Corp. v Commission of the European Communities". EUR-Lex. 2007-09-17. Archived from the original on 2015-07-25. Retrieved 2025-08-21.
  17. ↑ "Microsoft hit by record EU fine - CNN". CNN. 2004-03-25. Archived from the original on 2006-04-13.
  18. ↑ "Microsoft hit by record EU fine". CNN. 2004-03-25. Archived from the original on 2006-04-13. Retrieved 2025-08-21.
  19. ↑ Bekker, Scot (2005-03-28). "European Windows Called 'Windows XP Home Edition N'". Redmondmag.com. Archived from the original on 2005-04-07. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  20. ↑ "Microsoft and EU reach agreement". BBC. 2005-03-28. Archived from the original on 2005-12-22. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  21. ↑ Wearden, Graeme (2005-06-28). "Windows XP-lite 'not value for money'". Silicon.com. Archived from the original on 2005-11-02. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  22. ↑ "JJH Enterprises Limited (trading as ValueLicensing) v Microsoft Corporation and Others". Competition Appeal Tribunal. 2022-11-22. Archived from the original on 2025-02-19. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  23. ↑ Speed, Richard (2022-07-08). "Judge rejects another Microsoft appeal against surplus license reseller suit". The Register. Archived from the original on 2022-07-08. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  24. ↑ Speed, Richard (2021-04-08). "UK reseller sues Microsoft for £270m in damages claiming prohibitive contracts choke off surplus Office licence supplies". The Register. Archived from the original on 2021-04-08. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  25. ↑ Gerken, Tom (2024-12-03). "Microsoft faces £1bn class action case in UK over software prices". BBC. Archived from the original on 2024-12-03. Retrieved 2025-08-21.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Browne, Ryan (December 3, 2024). "Microsoft faces £1 billion lawsuit in UK for allegedly overcharging rival cloud firms' customers". cnbc.com. Archived from the original on 4 Jan 2026.
  27. ↑ Godoy, Jody (November 28, 2024). "Microsoft faces wide-ranging US antitrust probe". reuters.com. Archived from the original on 21 Jul 2025.
  28. ↑ Maxwell, Andy (September 1, 2019). "Microsoft Puts Blocks On In-Browser Minecraft Clone". Torrent Freak. Archived from the original on 15 Feb 2026. Retrieved Feb 10, 2026.
  29. ↑ Mazeriio (Feb 10, 2026). "Tweet from Mazeriio". X formerly Twitter. Archived from the original on 21 Mar 2026. Retrieved Feb 10, 2026.
  30. ↑ Warren, Tom (2021-12-02). "Microsoft's new Windows prompts try to stop people downloading Chrome". The Verge. Archived from the original on 2021-12-02. Retrieved 2025-08-22.
  31. ↑ Sen, Sayan (2021-12-02). "Microsoft says its own Edge browser is more trustworthy than "so 2008" Google Chrome". Neowin. Archived from the original on 2021-12-02. Retrieved 2025-08-22.
  32. ↑ Hollister, Sean (2023-10-25). "Microsoft now thirstily injects a poll when you download Google Chrome". The Verge. Archived from the original on 2023-10-25. Retrieved 2025-08-22.
  33. ↑ Hollister, Sean (Jun 6, 2023). "Microsoft has no shame: Bing spit on my 'Chrome' search with a fake AI answer". The Verge. Archived from the original on 11 Jan 2026. Retrieved Jun 21, 2025.
  34. ↑ Warren, Tom (Jan 6, 2025). "Microsoft is using Bing to trick people into thinking they're on Google". The Verge. Archived from the original on 11 Jan 2026. Retrieved Jun 21, 2025.
  35. ↑ Chappell, Geoff (8 May 1999). "AARD code". Geoff Chappell, Software Analyst. Archived from the original on 12 Jan 2024. Retrieved 16 Aug 2025.
  36. ↑ "Microsoft emails focus on DR-DOS threat". CNET. 2002-01-02. Archived from the original on 2016-03-10. Retrieved 2025-08-30.
  37. ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/microsoft-account-activity-policy-7c0a9fa7-0982-b7c6-fd72-df852b63699f (Archived)
  38. ↑ Tung, Liam (2020-06-03). "Windows 10: Microsoft begins automatically pushing Chromium Edge to users". ZDNET. Archived from the original on 2020-06-03. Retrieved 2025-08-21.
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