Google sues the US government over Microsoft favoritism

Filed under: Business, Google, Microsoft

Google filed a complaint against the US government late last week, accusing the government of anti-competitive practices because only Microsoft products were considered for the Department of the Interior's new all-in-one hosted email and messaging solution. The Request for Quotation, the document that outlines the government's requirements for potential bidders on the project, specified that the new system had to be part of the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite, essentially ruling out any competing software products without consideration.

From that information, it sounds like Google has a pretty good case that the government illegally restricted competition. Google met with the DOI to discuss why the project was limited to Microsoft solutions, and they were told that Microsoft was the only company that provided "unified/consolidated email" and "enhanced security." In its filing, Google argues that this is completely false, and that competing products (like Google's own) meet the DOI's needs.

Here's the catch, though: the case might not have any legs, because Google doesn't even have the proper contracts to do business with the government, so it may never have been in the running to begin with. Expect the government to bring up the issue of Google's standing to sue (or lack there of) in its response.

[via Techdirt]

Google sues the US government over Microsoft favoritism originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/11/01/google-sues-the-us-government-over-microsoft-favoritism/

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