Russian President Vladimir Putin has appeared to cast his ballot in the country’s State Duma elections using a Dell computer displaying what appears to be the familiar “Activate Windows” watermark, drawing attention to the use of foreign technology during an official Kremlin event.

The footage shows Putin completing an online ballot while sitting in front of a computer screen. As he selects his candidate, he remarks, “You can’t go wrong.” Images from the video appear to show the Windows activation watermark in the lower-right portion of the display, although the footage does not independently establish why the operating system was not activated.

The vote was for deputies to Russia’s ninth State Duma, with Putin once again choosing to vote remotely. Russian state media outlet TASS also reported that residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, along with the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, would participate in the legislative elections for the first time.

The legal spat between secondhand software reseller ValueLicensing and Microsoft took another turn this week: a consent order was published with demands for documents from past and present Microsoft head honchos, and a planned case management conference was cancelled.

Several requests in the order revolved around a historic, potentially explosive internal document written by Microsoft entitled the “Second-Hand Software” (SHS) Presentation.

ValueLicensing and Microsoft agreed to vacate the case management conference ahead of its scheduled date on September 14, 2026. The result is the Consent Order, which, unsurprisingly, focuses on locating and asking for the disclosure of Microsoft documents that may bear on the reseller’s allegation that the company offered incentives for customers to shift to subscription services in return for not selling their pre-owned licenses.

The confidentiality designation applied to several documents in the case has also been lifted.

In addition, there are many references to a June 2013 document that Microsoft disclosed on December 22, 2025, entitled “Second-Hand Software Presentation” (SHS Presentation).

June 2013 was a busy time for Microsoft: it had launched the Office 365 subscription service two years previously, but there was a question over what to do about those customers with perpetual licenses that Microsoft wanted to move into the brave new world of “an always-up-to-date cloud service, at a predictable monthly subscription.”

While the content of the SHS Presentation has yet to be made public, the Consent Order treats it as a “Known Adverse Document,” meaning it is unlikely to be good news for Microsoft. Furthermore, the consent order requires Microsoft to explain by October 31 why it had not disclosed it earlier. This case was filed in 2021 and yet it took until the end of 2025 for Microsoft to produce the presentation.

Microsoft was also asked to conduct extensive, unredacted disclosure searches across its corporate mailboxes and SharePoint accounts of high-level executives for search terms including “antitrust,” “used licenses,” “second hand”, and “Value Licensing,” between July 3, 2012 and June 1, 2020. It has until November 30 to produce any documents found during the search.

Execs whose mailboxes and document repositories must be searched include Richard Chin, currently a Corporate VP at Microsoft responsible for the company’s monetisation approach and who was a General Manager between 2012 and 2020 working on pricing, licensing, and the business models in the Cloud and AI world. Kevin Turner, who was Chief Operating Officer at Microsoft from 2005 to 2016, is also on the list.

As for confidentiality, the consent order stated, “No blanket or default designation of such documents as ‘Restricted’ or ‘Confidential’ shall be applied.” Instead, it’ll be on a document-by-document basis and “limited to the precise words, figures or passages said to be sensitive; and be supported by specific reasons rather than general assertions.”

“Defendants shall disclose by no later than 4pm on 30 November 2026 any further documents they have identified relating to the same or similar matters addressed in the SHS Presentation.”

Microsoft will also keep ValueLicensing apprised of its progress every 21 days.

ValueLicensing boss Jonathan Horley said, “ValueLicensing have been working to get appropriate disclosure for some years and this Order is the result of that work and more recently disclosed documents.

“This is a further stage enabling a better understanding of how Microsoft dealt with the second-hand software market which brings a liability trial one stage closer.”

The case has had several twists over the years, not least Microsoft’s “Hail Mary” attempt to make it about copyright rather than the allegation that it deliberately stifled the sale of secondhand software licenses. This latest turn might eventually give an intriguing insight into how the US biz dealt with the market while encouraging customers to embrace subscriptions.

Broadcom appears firmly in the crosshairs of European antitrust watchdogs, with European Union (EU) officials reportedly grilling cloud providers impacted by sweeping licensing changes.

Bloomberg reports that European cloud firms are being subject to questions from antitrust officials on the importance of VMware offerings and to what extent they could be easily replaced. Cloud service providers are also reportedly being asked for any new certification arrangements they might deem “unfair.”

Should the commission eventually decide to escalate the matter, it could launch a formal investigation or intervene more quickly with the option of imposing so-called “interim measures” – temporary orders that can only be implemented in the event officials find immediate risk of serious and irreparable damage to competition. These include ordering companies to pause at-issue practices for a short time.

Such measures, though, are rarely used, and in the event they ever are, legal challenges can be brought by the affected company, further slowing the process. Companies found to breach EU antitrust laws can be hit by fines of up to 10% of their global annual revenue, though such instances are few and far between.

Since its $61 billion takeover of VMware closed in late November 2023, Broadcom has instigated sweeping changes, many of which have caused consternation among some customers.

Ripping up perpetual license offerings to create subscription-based mass bundles resulted in customers purchasing subscriptions to services they don’t need just to access the ones they do.

Broadcom has also shuttered the Advantage Partner Program for VMware Cloud Service Providers (VCSP), replacing it with an invite-only system. The White Label model, which allowed smaller cloud service providers to work through Pinnacle or Premier partners, was also retired. And just last week, Broadcom pulled the plug on a software kit that allowed rivals to migrate virtual machines away from VMware.

Customer consternation has seen a considerable number of VMware users jump ship, much to the delight of Nutanix, Red Hat, and even some hyperscalers.

Broadcom, though, has consistently been defiant, maintaining an uncompromising stance amid VMware related-legal spats with disgruntled ex’s like Tesco, Siemens, and more recently, T-Mobile US.

CEO Hock Tan previously proudly proclaimed that more than 90% of VMware’s 10,000 largest customers have signed up for the vendor’s Cloud Foundation (VCF) platform. At the company’s recent Explore event in Las Vegas, chief product officer Paul Turner tried to paint the private cloud offering as a means to better manage surging token costs.

That hasn’t stopped Broadcom from being painted as public enemy No. 1 by the Cloud Infrastructure Service Providers in Europe (CISPE). The group took issue with the shuttering of VCSP, filing a complaint with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition alleging that it would force many European communication service providers to exit the market.

Broadcom also recently lost out in a fight with EU antitrust regulators over access to documents it contended were covered by American legal professional privilege. The EU General Court sided with the bloc’s regulators, however, finding that “it is for the commission to decide whether a particular item of information is necessary to enable it to bring to light an infringement of the EU competition rules.”

Arista Networks is embroiled in a dispute over VeloCloud support services, mirroring customer grievances levelled against Broadcom, the brand’s former owner.

Managed service provider TPx Communications filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late June as it sought to restructure, having accrued debts of around $1.1 billion. During the bankruptcy process, the company forked out for perpetual VeloCloud licenses and support to Arista to ensure its mission-critical infrastructure kept on running.

According to TPx, Arista throttled updates, security patches, and administrative access while dangling a $46 million, three-year subscription deal as the price of getting full service back – a steep rise considering that the company said it has paid $59 million for VeloCloud access since 2016.

TPx has taken a complaint to the courts, requesting a judge grant an order finding Arista to have breached its contract and that its restructuring efforts would “suffer irreparable harm.”

“The balance of hardships favours injunctive relief. Without an injunction, TPx faces substantial, irreversible harm, and Arista comparatively would experience little harm from having to return to its decade-long offering of services,” a Texas bankruptcy court filing reads.

TPx has been using VeloCloud for years to support offerings like its managed SD-WAN delivery platform. The company contends that a deal signed with former VeloCloud owner Broadcom in 2021 locked in prices after its subscription licenses converted to perpetual, along with three years of support.

But Broadcom sold VeloCloud to Arista last July for a price believed to be a cool $1 billion.

Having paid what it believed it owed Arista in the summer – some $2.34 million and a further $1.84 million for support – TPx alleges the vendor pulled the rug out from under them, going as far as to remove high-privilege account access, citing apparent security risks.

Arista argues that the amount paid by TPx covered license conversion as well as limited technical support, but not software upgrades, hosted orchestration, or other subscription-tier services. Such options required separate payment under a different contract clause, the vendor contends.

Arista says it did provide subscription-level services for about four months as a courtesy but warned in a letter that upgrade access would end May 20, and that its $46 million subscription quote already reflected a “significant discount” for TPx’s perpetual licenses.

The VeloCloud owner also objected to TPx’s bankruptcy efforts. A 98-page filing saw it challenge TPx’s attempts to hold onto VeloCloud contracts through bankruptcy, and claim it only gave Arista eight days to object after the restructuring-plan notice. The vendor also took issue with TPx for failing to list every relevant agreement, not disclosing potential-purchaser information, and not supplying financial projections for the reorganised company.

“[TPx] have provided virtually no adequate assurance information relating to the party that will purportedly perform under the Arista agreements post-assumption,” the filing dated July 21 reads.

The pair are set to duke it out before a court-appointed mediator. The case continues.

Former VeloCloud owner Broadcom has faced its fair share of customer legal actions after revamping VMware’s flagship Cloud Foundation (VCF) offering. The likes of Siemens, AT&T, and retail giant Tesco took action in the wake of licensing and support changes.

Just last week, the VMware parent pulled the plug on a software development kit (SDK) used by rivals to migrate virtual machines away from the platform, much to the chagrin of virtualisation competitors.

The European Commission is collecting information on how US technology giant Oracle licenses its software for cloud use.

A person familiar with the matter told Reuters EU antitrust regulators were seeking information from third parties about Oracle’s licensing practices.

However, the information-gathering exercise does not mean the company is formally under investigation. Regulators could use the evidence to build a case, or decide to take no further action if they find no wrongdoing.

The Commission has taken a similar approach towards German software company SAP, which agreed concessions in July to address concerns over its licensing practices.

The Commission has been cautious about confirming the details of its work on Oracle. A spokesperson said the regulator would continue to monitor potential anti-competitive practices and abusive conduct in the cloud sector, but stressed that there was currently no formal investigation into any company.

Oracle has faced complaints about its licensing and software audit practices for years, including from European customers.

Such disputes have generally been resolved through commercial agreements rather than antitrust proceedings.

Cloud computing has changed the nature of those concerns. Licensing conditions that make it significantly more expensive to run Oracle software on a rival cloud could influence a customer’s choice of vendor.

Similarly, contracts that are difficult to terminate could make it harder for businesses to switch providers.

Microsoft will phase out the current licensing structure for Azure VMware Solution (AVS). This will eliminate one option for organisations to use VMware in the cloud without licensing VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) themselves. Existing customers have until August 2027 to transition.

Under the current version of AVS, the necessary licenses for vSphere, vCenter, vSAN, NSX, and other components are included in the service Microsoft provides. That model is being phased out. Starting October 31, 2026, Microsoft will no longer sell new AVS environments that include these VMware licenses.

Going forward, customers must have their own VCF license from Broadcom, reports The Register. They can then use it within AVS via the “Bring Your Own License” model, also known as AVS VCF BYOL. Existing users of the current setup must transition by August 30, 2027, at the latest. After that, their existing environments will no longer run the same way.

According to a new report from Taiwanese publication United Daily News (UDC) Microsoft is raising the cost of Windows license fees for hardware makers by a much higher amount than normal. According to the report, certain OEMs are seeing licensing price hikes of between 7% and 10%.

Usually, Microsoft raises Windows license fees for OEMs by a low digit percentage, making this 7% to 10% increase much more significant than normal.

“A PC brand executive stated that Microsoft increases licensing fees for Windows OEMs (device manufacturers) every year. In the past, licensing fees mostly increased by single digits each year, but starting in July this year, the average increase has reached 7% to 10%, which is a significant increase compared to previous years,” UDC says.

Of course, the cost of the Windows license fee is usually (at least partially) passed onto the consumer buying a computer, and UDC claims that their source says laptop pricing is already being impacted by these recent license fee increases. Microsoft charges different OEMs their own fees for Windows, so the exact increase in cost will differ for each hardware maker.

Regardless, with the ongoing memory component shortage, PCs have already seen astronomical price increases over the last year, with experts claiming that we haven’t yet seen the worst of it. With Microsoft raising prices higher than usual on Windows licenses, it feels like the Redmond giant is adding extra fuel to the fire.

To be clear, the Windows license fee price hikes only apply to OEMs building hardware that ships with Windows. The cost of buying a license for Windows 11 as a consumer remains unchanged, being $99 for Windows 11 Home and $199 for Windows 11 Pro.

The ongoing component crisis has made computing unaffordable for many people. PCs that used to target the $600-$800 price bracket now cost close to $1,000. And flagship Windows laptops that used to cost $1,200-1,500 are now closer to $2,000. Even Apple has been hit by the shortage, being forced to raise prices by hundreds of dollars across its Mac line-up. Microsoft’s own Surface line was hit especially hard, with the flagship Surface Pro and Surface Laptop being $400-$500 more expensive than the last-gen models.

Microsoft is moving parts of its AI portfolio beyond pure per-seat pricing by pairing user licenses with charges tied to usage. The hybrid model keeps recurring seat fees in place while adding a variable billing unit as customers consume more AI capacity.

That model is beginning to show up in Microsoft’s financial results. Dynamics 365 Customer Service credit consumption rose fourfold quarter over quarter, while GitHub Copilot generated what Microsoft called “significant consumption revenue” after its June billing change.

Microsoft also reported more than 30 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats, with net additions more than doubling from the previous quarter, and said GitHub continued adding Business and Enterprise seats.