Microsoft Acquires Skype for $8.4 Billion

[JMcEntegart]

Microsoft has announced an $8.4 billion business deal that will see the Redmond-based software giant acquire VOIP phone service Skype.

Microsoft Acquires Skype for $8.4 Billion : Read more

 

[sseyler]

I'm ready... I think.

 

[gokanis]

Poor Skype.

 

[NuclearShadow]

reporting directly to Ballmer.

That must be quite the scary experience having to report to the devil himself.

 

[COLGeek]

It would be a shame if the "MS good idea fairies" ruined an otherwise useful product. Skyping has become a part of the greater 'Net lexicon (much like "googling"). I hope Skype doesn't become yet another bloated, less than useful MS product....It will also be interesting to see how this impacts the Open Source communities.

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]NuclearShadow[/nom]That must be quite the scary experience having to report to the devil himself.[/citation]
They were bought by Microsoft, not Apple

OK let's see this get integrated into all Windows products then see Google go crying to the DoJ because Google Talk isn't getting any love.

 

[RogueKitsune]

Too bad M$ is probably gonna run Skype into the ground. Then after a year of there being no "Skype" release i product like Skype(that they claim they developed all on their own), but you have to pay for everything and sucks in comparison....because that is what M$ is good at. Taking an idea, claim it as their own hard work, make it worse and charge lots of money for it.

 

[matt_b]

Microsoft has been on a roll with the motto - we haven't been able to reinvent ourselves for decades - so we'll buy up whatever seems to be doing well. Seriously, how many innovations have they created compared to blunders (especially on the hardware side) - now compare that number to company acquisitions.

 

[Maxor127]

[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]They were bought by Microsoft, not AppleOK let's see this get integrated into all Windows products then see Google go crying to the DoJ because Google Talk isn't getting any love.[/citation]
Fankid.

 

[Tomtompiper]

Ah well I and my family will just have to find a new VOIP provider, what a pity.

 

[Zingam]

[citation][nom]gokanis[/nom]Poor Skype.[/citation]

I don't care about Skype but I care about their user base. More appropriate would be: Poor users!
I really want to ditch Skype now if I can.[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]They were bought by Microsoft, not AppleOK let's see this get integrated into all Windows products then see Google go crying to the DoJ because Google Talk isn't getting any love.[/citation]

Apple? Oh, come on! Apple is so far from being global company in every home.

Microsoft is the devil: they are everywhere and they've ruined the PC experience for 30 years for billions of users with their overpriced wincraps! They've ruined so many good companies with their monopoly and they've wasted trilions of manhours of people trying to fix their crappy OSes full of bugs and viruses.
Apple is no way near such dominaton and evil. Where you live you hardly see Apple products but yesterday I had to wait in line for half an hour in a government department waiting for the admins to reboot the Win2003 server.

 

[dread_cthulhu]

And yet another addition to Windows Live Essentials!

 

[Zingam]

[citation][nom]tomtompiper[/nom]Ah well I and my family will just have to find a new VOIP provider, what a pity.[/citation]

The problem is that Skype is so much better than anything else. The only product that delivers a good VOIP experience is TeamViewer but it isn't a chat/call software and it isn't as convenient as Skype.
Now with this purchase of Skype I can imagine their support for 3rd party OSs will be neglected completely.

 

[Zingam]

In business there is one rule: if you want to destroy competition - you buy it!

 

[LePhuronn]

Goodbye my Android app, just as it was vaguely fixed and functional - really don't see MS keeping it around.

 

[mj4358]

This sucks! Get ready for MS version and poor support for the original.

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

They were bought by Microsoft, not Apple

+10 =)) lol.

Well, it's decided, then...

Now with this purchase of Skype I can imagine their support for 3rd party OSs will be neglected completely.

Hope not. I'm still looking towards Skype on my SGS II when I get it! =) No, seriosly, that would really suck. Skype for Linux was bad enough without Microsoft jumping in.

Microsoft is the devil: they are everywhere and they've ruined the PC experience for 30 years for billions of users with their overpriced wincraps! They've ruined so many good companies with their monopoly and they've wasted trilions of manhours of people trying to fix their crappy OSes full of bugs and viruses.

What a bunch of ignorant BS! Microsoft CREATED PC experience! Without them, we'd be all running Mac OS or Linux. I don't care whom their ruined (whom, by the way?) as long as it contributed towards keeping Windows alive. WE NEED Windows. No Windows - no PC gaming. When was the last time you've used Windows? I haven't seen a single virus or bug in my system ever since I got XP SP2, period. And I've done a lot of crazy stuff to it. Messing with the registry, partitions, third-party software... Vista doesn't count, it was a testing ground for Windows 7. And the latter is at least as good as XP, no problems whatsoever.

But even taking that into account, it is sad that Skype was bought by MS. MS provided great OS, but their programs sucked (IE, Live Messenger, Outlook, WMP, you name it) and it was always great that they could be replaced by third-party software (FF, Skype, Thunderbird, K-Lite, you name it). Now it's gonna be one less.

Hey, maybe it's not gonna be so bad? Maybe they'll just integrate it into Windows setup and call it "MS Skype" without pulling Linux/Mac/Android support... wait, now I'm dreaming.

The best would be if MS will just let Skype development team work on their own, only supplying them with resources and taking the profits... but somehow I doubt MS will let that happen. I hope they'll at least keep support for older Skype versions - 3.8 was the fastest ever...

 

[Guest]

Actually, Microsoft stole the GUI from Apple after they stole it and the mouse from Xerox ;-P

 

[jimsocks]

Maybe we can get some decent support for nokia phones

 

[eldesconocido]

[citation][nom]Zingam[/nom]...I had to wait in line for half an hour in a government department waiting for the admins to reboot the Win2003 server.[/citation]

The government mostly has Linux-based servers.