Microsoft's software has about 20 million UK users. Britain's watchdog proposed a special status.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) wants to designate Microsoft as having "strategic market status" in business software.
That could let the regulator set rules for how Microsoft sells products used by more than a million UK organisations and around 20 million people a month.
Its initial finding points to "the barriers customers face when switching". The scope covers Word, Excel, Teams and Copilot, alongside Microsoft's server and security software.
For SAP teams, the licensing review is the part to watch. The CMA wants to examine whether Microsoft's terms limit which clouds customers can run its software on. That can limit where the Microsoft software beside an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system runs.
The regulator also wants more evidence on competition between Copilot and rival AI tools. It will look at how Microsoft bundles its security software too.
Microsoft told The Register it does not share the CMA's views. It said all its products, including Copilot, are "open and interoperable".
The proposed status "does not assume wrongdoing", the CMA said. A final decision is due by 13 February 2027.
Sources
Our file on Microsoft
- 20 Oct
ValueLicensing sued Microsoft for £270m. A court refused Microsoft's bid to appeal.
- 19 Oct
Microsoft quit Nscale's UK data centre. Power may not arrive until the 2030s.
- 14 Oct
Home Office AI summarised asylum interviews. 45 of 203 checked summaries failed.
- 13 Oct
Microsoft's change broke the Exchange admin console. SharePoint failed that way in September.
- 13 Oct
Microsoft promised $100m for its Africa engineering centre. Staff say Nairobi's is closing.
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