Roundup – Dell cuts ties with Russia and Microsoft backed into a corner

Meta and partners launch new WhatsApp shopping experience in India

A new WhatsApp shopping experience has been created by Meta and e-commerce retailer Reliance Retail in partnership with tech firm Jio Platforms. The partners said it is a “global-first end-to-end” shopping experience, allowing India based customers the freedom to browse WhatsApp’s grocery catalogue, add items to their cart and make the payments via local payments rail UPI without the need to leave the messaging service.

“Business messaging is an area with real momentum and chat-based experiences like this will be the go-to way people and businesses communicate in the years to come,” Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, said in a statement.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/29/meta-jiomart-whatsapp/

Antitrust regulators force Microsoft to change European licensing agreements

Following complaints from European cloud-computing service providers to antitrust regulators, Microsoft has revealed planned amendments to its software licensing agreements. Antitrust regulators say the firm’s current practices puts rivals on the back foot. The changes – set to take place on 1 October – will make it more straightforward for rival’s customers in Europe to move their existing software to other networks. Microsoft also assured that cloud partners will “have access to the products necessary to sell cost-effective solutions that customers want”. Some say its new commitments “fall short”, yet Microsoft argue it is making changes to the claims that are valid since it doesn’t “think all of the claims are”.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-29/microsoft-changes-european-cloud-license-terms-after-complaints#xj4y7vzkg

Dell cuts ties with Russia after August offices closure

Dell has became the next in a long list of Western firms to exit Russia. The US computer company said in February it would keep an eye on the situation in Ukraine to determine its future movements. However, Russia’s industry ministry stated on Friday that many of the researchers and engineers working for Dell in Russia had already been offered new jobs, after media reports said the company was making a full exit. Tech publication CNews reported this week that Dell would fully exit Russia and dismiss all its local employees.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/27/dell-ceases-all-russian-operations-after-august-offices-closure.html

Musk cites Twitter whistleblower as new grounds to cease $44bn deal

Elon Musk has sourced new information from a whistleblower report by Twitter’s former safety chief which he hopes will boost his case to terminate his $44bn purchase of the social media giant. A letter was written to Twitter executives on Monday, claiming that (if true) programmer Peiter Zatko’s allegations breach many details of the merger settlement and it offers a much stronger argument to terminate it. However, Twitter’s attorney’s responded on Tuesday saying the discovery of termination was “invalid and wrongful under the agreement”. They added that the report is based majorly on statements made by a third party “riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies”. The case remains scheduled to go to trial in October.

https://www.newsncr.com/business/elon-musk-cites-twitter-whistleblower-as-new-grounds-to-cancel-44bn-deal/