slack gitlab_Slack最近对微软的反托拉斯投诉：创业公司的重要要点

We cannot limit ourselves to continuing on the path we have already opened — Amancio Ortega

我们不能限制自己继续走我们已经打开的道路—阿曼西奥·奥尔特加(Amancio Ortega)

November 2, 2016, Slack put out an audacious message to Microsoft just before the latter launched Teams, a competitive application that directly competed with Slack.

月‧日ñ2，2016年，只是后者推出的团队，有竞争力的应用程序，它直接与松弛竞争之前松弛推出一个大胆的消息给微软。

The message was a full-page letter in the New York Times stating how Slack was genuinely happy to have the competition. The letter went on to offer a lesson to Microsoft on how to get the job done and why it would be difficult to replicate the success Slack has had.

该消息是《纽约时报》上的整页信，其中指出Slack真的很高兴能参加比赛。 这封信继续向Microsoft提供了有关如何完成工作以及为什么难以复制Slack的成功的教训。

At the time, most people were optimistic about Slack’s future prospects and what they stood to accomplish from the single product they provided to people and organizations across the world. In hindsight, I think we can all agree that everybody overestimated the growth of Slack and underestimated the influence of Microsoft.

当时，大多数人都对Slack的未来前景以及从向世界各地的人们和组织提供的单一产品中可以实现的目标感到乐观。 事后看来，我认为我们都可以同意所有人都高估了Slack的增长，却低估了Microsoft的影响力。

In July of 2020, Slack filed an EU competition complaint against Microsoft for bundling their Teams application with the Office Suite.

2020年7月，Slack向Microsoft提出了欧盟竞争投诉，要求其将Teams应用程序与Office Suite捆绑在一起。

Here is a small excerpt of the complaint:

这是投诉的一小部分摘录：

“Microsoft has illegally tied its Teams product into its market-dominant Office productivity suite, force installing it for millions, blocking its removal, and hiding the true cost to enterprise customers.”

“微软已将其Teams产品非法捆绑到以市场为主导的Office生产力套件中，迫使其安装数百万美元，阻止其移除，并为企业客户隐藏了真正的成本。”

Slack’s General Counsel reportedly said, “They created a weak, copycat product and tied it to their dominant Office product, force installing it and blocking its removal, a carbon copy of their illegal behavior during the ‘browser wars.’”

据报道 ， Slack的总法律顾问说 ： “他们创造了一个功能弱，模仿性强的产品，并将其与主要的Office产品捆绑在一起，强行安装并阻止其移除，这是“浏览器战争”期间其非法行为的复制品。”

A couple of things are evident from the complaint filed by Slack. Contrary to what they once said in the New York Times letter, they are not genuinely excited to have Microsoft as a competitor. And, more importantly, a single product company will need to reinvent itself more often than expected to stay ahead of the competition.

从Slack提出的投诉中，有几件事很明显。 与他们在《纽约时报》信中曾经说过的相反，他们对让微软成为竞争对手并没有真正感到兴奋。 而且，更重要的是，一家单一产品公司将需要比预期更频繁地重塑自我，以保持竞争优势。

There are a few takeaways from this lawsuit that comes to light for startups, especially those that launch with a single product or service.

对于初创公司，尤其是那些使用单一产品或服务启动的初创公司，可以从该诉讼中获得一些启示。

穴居人不应该与霸王龙战斗 (A caveman shouldn’t battle with a T-Rex)

A bit of initial business success tends to make one feel proud, excited, and— sometimes—slightly arrogant. However, it is essential to be aware of those feelings to help make rational decisions for your company.

最初的商业成功往往会使人感到自豪，兴奋，有时甚至有些自大。 但是，必须了解这些感受，以帮助您为公司做出合理的决定。

Instead of taking up an entire page on advising Microsoft on how to run a glorified Messaging Application, Slack may have better spent their time learning from them. If you have a product that is not innately unique or proprietary, it’s arguably naive to think that a competitor can’t find a way to innovate and do a better job.

Slack可能不会花整整整整一整的时间向Microsoft提供有关如何运行一个出色的Messaging Application的建议，而是最好花一些时间向他们学习。 如果您的产品并非天生就具有独特性或专有性，那么认为竞争对手找不到创新和做得更好的方法就太天真了。

On the other hand, an expansive organization like Microsoft would recognize the benefit of developing a messaging application and has the resources to create their own version, rather than buying the competitor. Why? Because it is cheaper for them to build one in-house rather than shop for it outside.

另一方面，像Microsoft这样的庞大组织将认识到开发消息传递应用程序的好处，并拥有创建自己的版本的资源，而不是购买竞争对手。 为什么？ 因为对于他们来说，在内部建造一个比在外面买一个便宜得多。

Today, Microsoft has over 1.2 Billion users on the MS Office platform, and Google has over 2 Billion users of the G-suite platform.

如今， 微软在MS Office平台上拥有超过12亿用户，而Google在G-suite平台上拥有超过20亿用户 。

How did these companies reach such a scale?

这些公司如何达到如此规模？

For starters, they do not depend on one product. Instead, the minute they realize that one of their products is working as a cash machine for them, they leverage that spotlight and launch another product. The success and failure of it are relative and debatable. However, despite the result of their work, they do not stop thinking about what’s next.

对于初学者来说，它们不依赖于一种产品。 相反，当他们意识到自己的一种产品正在为他们充当自动取款机的那一刻，他们就利用了这一亮点并推出了另一种产品。 它的成功与失败是相对的，值得商bat的。 但是，尽管他们取得了工作的成果，但他们并没有停止思考下一步的计划。

The approach of Slack is quite contrary. They focus on a single product and at the end of the day: there’s only so much you can do with a messaging application.

Slack的方法是完全相反的。 他们只关注一种产品，并且在一天结束时：消息应用程序只能做很多事情。

12 million users and a single product is not enough ammunition to go to war with the T-Rex of the industry.

1200万用户和一种产品不足以与行业的霸王龙交战。

真正拥抱比赛 (Genuinely embrace the competition)

Back when Tesla was getting past their production issues and gaining a lot of traction in the news, the financial markets and the automobile industry, I came across an interesting tweet from Anand Mahindra, Chairman of the Mahindra Group Conglomerate in India who also has a massive automobile company as part of his business.

当特斯拉是越来越近了生产问题，并在新闻获得了大量关注的其他回，金融市场和汽车产业，我遇到了一个有趣的鸣叫从阿南德·马欣德拉，印度马恒达集团砾岩主席谁也有大型汽车公司作为他业务的一部分。

Granted, this is just one tweet and we can’t give it too much weight. Nonetheless, it shows that there are two ways to face your competition.

当然，这只是一条推文，我们不能赋予它太多的分量。 尽管如此，它表明面对竞争有两种方法。

1. You can choose to feel threatened by it; or
   您可以选择受到威胁； 要么
2. You can embrace it and leverage it to help you and your business grow and evolve.
   您可以拥抱它并利用它来帮助您和您的企业发展壮大。

In 2017, there were no electric cars in India, and no company, Indian or otherwise, was even close to challenging Tesla in its niche. Today, companies are pushing each other to bring better (and greener) products to the market.

2017年，印度没有电动汽车，也没有一家公司(无论印度与否)都在特斯拉的利基市场接近挑战。 如今，公司互相推动，将更好(和更绿色)的产品推向市场。

Rather than choosing a bold, more aggressive reaction, Anand Mahindra demonstrated his leadership skills in less than 280 characters on Twitter.

Anand Mahindra并没有选择大胆，更具侵略性的React，而是在Twitter上以少于280个字符展示了他的领导才能。

不要仅仅因为你可以抱怨 (Don't complain just because you can)

To some, Slack’s complaint against Microsoft indicates that they‘re fearful of losing their relevance and unable to cope with the competition.

在某些情况下，Slack对Microsoft的投诉表明他们担心失去相关性并且无法应对竞争。

Slack said that Microsoft has illegally tied the Teams into their MS Office suite, thus forcing millions to install the Application on their devices.

Slack表示，微软已将这些团队非法捆绑到其MS Office套件中，从而迫使数百万用户在其设备上安装该应用程序。

A counterargument could: Just because a Microsoft purchaser has the Teams app installed on their device doesn’t mean they will use it. The ultimate choice lies with the user and their existing habits and brand loyalty.

一个反驳的说法可能是：仅仅因为Microsoft购买者在其设备上安装了Teams应用程序，并不意味着他们会使用它。 最终选择取决于用户及其现有习惯和品牌忠诚度。

Therefore, by Slack’s logic, WhatsApp and Telegram would have the same issue with Apple for integrating iMessage on the IOS Platform.

因此，按照Slack的逻辑，WhatsApp和Telegram与Apple在将iMessage集成到IOS平台上时会遇到相同的问题。

Slack also accused Microsoft of creating a weak, copycat product that tied it to the dominant Office product line.

Slack还指责微软创造了一个弱势的模仿产品，将其与主导的Office产品线捆绑在一起。

Microsoft Teams is not a weak product—if that was the case, there would be no reason for Slack to file this complaint (or for the product to get such a positive reception from its users.)

Microsoft Teams并不是一个弱势产品-如果是这种情况，Slack就没有理由提出投诉(或者该产品不会受到其用户的好评)。

While Slack has played an instrumental role in shaping how internal office communication gets an effective makeover, sadly, they needed to do more than that to keep ahead of the competition.

尽管Slack在塑造内部办公室沟通如何有效进行改造方面发挥了重要作用，但令人遗憾的是，他们需要做更多的工作才能保持竞争优势。

As entrepreneurs, we must understand and accept that as long as there is free will, capitalism, and ambition, someone will always try and dethrone you. How you choose to handle that challenge is entirely your call.

作为企业家，我们必须理解并接受，只要有自由意志，资本主义和野心，就会有人总会企图推翻你。 您如何选择应对挑战完全取决于您。

If, as a company, you’re not adding a unique value proposition to your customers in the long term, sooner or later you will have competition in that field because there will be another person who sees and wants the same things you do.

如果作为一家公司，从长远来看，您并没有为客户增加独特的价值主张，那么早晚您将在该领域竞争，因为会有另一个人看到并希望您做同样的事情。

It is understandable to assume that every company today will start with only one product. The issue arises when you choose to stay at only one product. Even Tesla, one of the revolutionary companies of the 21st Century, comes out with more ways to enhance their customer experience, either with its software or new car models or the overall driving experience.

可以理解的是，假设当今每个公司都只会以一种产品开始。 当您选择只保留一种产品时，就会出现问题。 甚至21世纪革命性公司之一的特斯拉(Tesla)也提出了更多的方法来增强客户体验，包括软件，新车模型或整体驾驶体验。

So far, Slack has done little to diversify their offerings.

到目前为止，Slack在使产品多样化方面几乎没有做任何事情。