Microsoft To Officially Become a Monopoly in Russia
Yesterday Russian anti-monopoly authorities informed us about the fact that they intend to officially include Microsoft in the register of monopolies doing business in the country. To be listed as a monopoly, a company needs to hold …
Context & Ripple Effects
Two years after Microsoft was reported to have softened some of its monopolistic practices, Russian anti-monopoly authorities say they intend to formally enter the company into the country's official register of monopolies. The designation is a regulatory status, not an accusation: it puts Microsoft under standing antimonopoly oversight in one of its large emerging markets.
First-order effects
- Microsoft becomes subject to formal antimonopoly supervision in Russia, meaning its licensing terms, pricing, and partner contracts can be examined and challenged by the regulator rather than negotiated purely commercially.
Second-order effects
- Russian PC assemblers and software resellers gain a regulatory counterweight in their dealings with Microsoft, giving them grounds to press the company on volume-licensing prices and distribution terms.
Third-order effects
- A formal register entry gives the Russian state a documented basis for policies that reduce dependence on a single foreign desktop-software vendor — whether through procurement preferences or support for domestic alternatives — a template other regulators watching dominant OS vendors could adopt.
The trend: Governments are moving from informal concern about foreign software dominance to formal registry-based leverage over incumbent operating-system vendors.