China opens competition investigation into Microsoft

The Chinese government has launched a monopoly investigation into Microsoft. The Chinese government wants to know how Microsoft Office and Windows connect. On Monday, it was announced that China had invaded Microsoft.

The investigation focuses on whether Microsoft is violating Chinese competition rules, Mashable writes. The news comes a day after it was announced that the Chinese government had raided four offices of the American software giant. It now appears that documents and internal communication were collected for the investigation during those raids.

Details about the research are still lacking, except that it would focus on the link between Windows and Office. Microsoft previously came under fire in the United States and Europe for allegedly violating competition rules with the bundling of Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player with Windows. This resulted, among other things, in the arrival of the browser selection screen and a Windows version without Windows Media Player.

Last week, the Chinese government completed a competition investigation into another US company. China ruled that chip giant Qualcomm has a monopoly on the chip market. The company would ask too much money for licenses.