Microsoft, Google bury the hatchet

“Microsoft has agreed to withdraw its regulatory complaints against Google, reflecting our changing legal priorities,” a Microsoft representative said in a statement to Re/code. “We will continue to focus on competing vigorously for business and for customers.” 

Google came up with a similar statement, saying that it will withdraw any regulatory complaints it has made. “Our companies compete vigorously, but we want to do so on the merits of our products, not in legal proceedings.” 

Neither company made any product commitments to one another. 

The accord comes just as European regulators charge that Google is abusing its position in Android market. Microsoft says it is not taking a position on either the European Union case against Android or an earlier EU inquiry about the search. It hasdropped its membership in FairSearch and ICOMP, which support anti-trust actions over Google’s search business. 

CEOs Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella are enjoying a far more cordial relationship than Steve Ballmer and Eric Schmidt, who tussled over issues from search practices to browsers to the hiring of Kai-Fu Lee and may be this account for the latest development to bury the hatchet.