[fhd2]

Let me fix that for you: "industry standard products" -> "monopolist's products".

Microsoft spent decades aggressively lobbying European governments and companies to use their stuff. Even if this finding has any short term impact (see the other comments about this point), I find it hard to believe Microsoft wouldn't swallow the pill and simply become compliant. If not - yeah, companies who are entrenched in Microsoft products have to find alternatives, which is gonna cost them significant efforts, but also open the door to more competition. Sounds like a short term problem for European businesses even in the worst case scenario.

[tremon]

The main problem for them is that it's not in Microsoft's power to be compliant here, as the problems are created by the US CLOUD act, not Microsoft's own policies.

The only way for Microsoft to become compliant is to carve out its European business into a separate organization (not even a subsidiary -- it could be that even a joint venture would not be enough to escape the reach of the CLOUD act).

[fhd2]

If they can do a double Irish with a Dutch sandwich to pay fewer taxes in Europe, I doubt they couldn't find a creative way to deal with this. They only have to be compliant enough for the fines and repercussions to be lower than their profits.

[xiphias2]

It's not just about swallowing the pill: MS has a close relationship with the US government, and NSA having a backdoor to workings to all other countries is a part of US keeping its power, so it's national security critical for US (just like for EU).