Survey: 83% of IT leaders say Microsoft licensing limits cloud choice

A Coalition for Fair Software Licensing poll found 83% of software and cloud decision-makers say Microsoft's licensing rules meaningfully limit which cloud providers they can consider. 61% chose Azure to avoid fees rather than on merit, and 82% with AI projects said licensing affected their platform choice.

• 83% said Microsoft licensing rules limit which cloud providers they can realistically consider
• 61% who shopped around chose Azure to avoid fees, not because it was better
• 82% with AI projects said licensing affected platform choice; 52% delayed or cancelled projects
• 94% support running owned software on any cloud without added fees