Oracle and Microsoft might be sworn enemies in the software world, but they appear to have at least one thing in common: an ability to antagonise regulators in Brussels.

In Microsoft’s case, European antitrust enforcers felt that their valid concerns about the company’s use of its market dominance were being given short shrift, leading to years of bad relations between the two sides before a recent provisional agreement to settle their dispute. Oracle, for its part, is only just learning what can come of failing to pay due attention to regulators across the Atlantic – to its cost.