What has Microsoft changed in this service agreement?

Recently, it was reported that the Microsoft Service Agreement on Microsoft's official website has been updated, stating that Microsoft does not assume any responsibility or liability if Microsoft is unable to perform or delays in performing its obligations due to force majeure. The agreement will come into force on October 1. However, some people interpret these contents as not responsible if the supply of Chinese windows is cut off.

In fact, this clause has appeared in several versions of the Microsoft Services Agreement since 2016, and it was not urgently revised in the near future, let alone the rumored "supply to China".

The main clauses of the service agreement are as follows, and these are common form clauses, which also have similar English content in the UK**。b. Microsoft assumes no responsibility or liability for Microsoft's failure or delay in performing its obligations due to circumstances beyond Microsoft's reasonable control (e.g., labor disputes, acts of God, acts of war or terrorism, malicious damage, accidents, or compliance with any applicable law or order). Microsoft will do its best to mitigate the impact of these events and meet its obligations not affected.

e. Other services. When you use all other services in accordance with these Terms, you are contracting with Microsoft Corporation, and these Terms will be governed by the laws of the State of Washington, regardless of conflict of law principles, with respect to those Services. The state or federal courts in King County, Washington, USA shall have non-exclusive jurisdiction.

However, in reality, this is not a new agreement for Microsoft. The above wording is completely consistent with the same clause of the service agreement released by Microsoft on July 1, 2019 and implemented on August 30, 2019. In addition, it is understood that Microsoft quoted relevant statements as early as 2016.

And this agreement is not just for Chinese mainland, there is a similar language in the 2019 UK version of the agreement. Some analysts say this is a very common operation used by large multinational companies to avoid political risks in their actual business.

In addition, analysts also believe that Microsoft's main revenue component in China is the public cloud Azure, Office and Windows products. However, in China, because Azure has not entered the mainstream ranks, if Microsoft "cuts off supply to China", users of Windows and Office series products will be the most affected. For business users, the blow is bigger.

Because they lose support for genuine products, they are at risk of being sued by Microsoft if they use piracy. There is also a view that if Microsoft really cuts off the supply to China, it will be a major opportunity for domestic software.

The biggest limitation of liability is the fact that Microsoft is not responsible if it is unable to provide services to people in the region due to labor disputes, force majeure, war and terrorism.

To put it simply, they want to cut off service in China.

In addition to requiring users to sign in to their Microsoft account at least once in two years to keep them active, it also emphasizes that Microsoft is not responsible if Cortana delays or prevents users from accessing services. In the Microsoft Rewards section, the reference to Microsoft Edge has been removed; In the Microsoft Health Services section, references to the HealthVault Insights application and related HealthVault Insights services have been removed.

According to the information provided by Microsoft, a total of 14 changes have been made to the agreement, specifically involving "Your Content", "Code of Conduct", "Children's Account", "Closing Your Account", "Contracting Entity, Choice of Law and Dispute Resolution Venue", "Xbox" and other parts.

Other Services, Code of Conduct, Kids and Accounts, Closing Your Account, Contracting Entity, Choice of Law and Dispute Resolution Venue, Xbox, Microsoft Family Features, Store and Office Services, Microsoft Health Services, Digital Goods, Azure, Notices.