By Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Alphabet unit Google filed a complaint to the European Commission on Wednesday against what it said were Microsoft's anti-competitive practices to lock customers into Microsoft's cloud platform Azure.

Google Cloud Platform has lodged an antitrust complaint against Microsoft to the European Commission. The company has accused Microsoft of using unfair licensing contracts in its Azure cloud computing businesses to manipulate competition.

The search giant argues that Microsoft is abusing its market power in enterprise software to push customers to use its cloud-computing service.

Google escalated a feud with Microsoft over cloud computing on Wednesday with a European Union antitrust complaint accusing its tech rival of anticompetitive practices. In a blog post, Google alleged that Microsoft's licensing practices lock business customers into using its Azure cloud computing platform.

Google has lodged a complaint with the European Commission alleging Microsoft's anti-competitive practices in cloud computing. Google accuses Microsoft of using its Windows Server dominance to lock customers into its Azure platform.

A spokesperson at the European Commission, the EU's antitrust watchdog, confirmed that the complaint was received, adding that "We will assess under our standard procedures".

Alphabet unit Google filed a complaint to the European Commission on Wednesday against what it said were Microsoft's anti-competitive practices to lock customers into Microsoft's cloud platform Azure.

Microsoft has made it cost-prohibitive for clients to use Windows Server or other products on rival services, such as Google Cloud or Amazon's AWS.