Microsoft is finalizing the details to acquire the VOIP service Skype to the tune of $8.5 billion. It should be interesting to see how Microsoft integrates VOIP into it’s current technologies.
The big question is, what will Microsoft be doing with Skype. They have a lot of interesting choices, Microsoft could integrate it into the already fairly popular Xbox live video chat, make it an integral part of Windows 8, or a number of other interesting things. The most reasonable expectation is that Microsoft will continue to grow the platform, add new features and just generally build upon Skype’s already pretty huge base.
Steve Ballmer is saying that Skype will become a business inside of Microsoft and that Skype’s CEO Tony Bates will be the new president of Skype in Microsoft.
Microsoft said that they will continue to support Skype service across all platforms (meaning Mac, iPhone, Android, Linux etc.…) so there's no reason to be concerned that you might be losing access to the service if your not using windows.
Some people are concerned about Microsoft buying Skype, there are security concerns coming from both sides, Skype has been notoriously hard to keep secure and Windows still remains the most vulnerable OS on the market. There are also concerns that Microsoft will let Skype ‘float’ around and never do anything new or interesting with it. Those people think that Microsoft is just looking for a way to increase it’s income and market share and have no interest in trying to make Skype any better for it’s users.
What do you think about Microsoft buying Skype?
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Source: Wall Street Journal
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