Microsoft Acquires Skype for $8.4 Billion

[Guest]

I am feeling very good about this, I love Skype, use it all the time, I think this is a good move for both Microsoft and Skype, It brings something useful into Microsofts world and places huge resources into Skypes world. I am looking forward to seeing where this goes....

Microsoft = WIN in my eyes, VIVA LA Micro-revolution!

 

[COLGeek]

[citation][nom]eldesconocido[/nom]The government mostly has Linux-based servers.[/citation]
The US government? Not so. MS rules the roost by a vast margin over any other OS/vendor.

Maybe Germany or one of the other EU countries, but not the US.

 

[mayne92]

[citation][nom]amk-aka-phantom[/nom]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...[/citation]
...holy frig...you say ignorant BS and you throw all that ridiculous garbage out there? Very uneducated comment...

 

[Crazy Hitchhiker]

*sigh* There goes linux support for skype...

 

[Tomtompiper]

[citation][nom]Zingam[/nom]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.[/citation]

I agree, but Linux support will undoubtedly end very soon, hence my need for a replacement, damn MS.

 

[orkie]

[citation][nom]scuba dave[/nom]I really hate using the "fanboi" comment, but I gotta admit, after seeing "WE NEED Windows" "Microsoft Created PC Gaming", its kinda burning to be let out.. Microsoft didn't create PC Gaming. They made a decent platform that was comfortable for a very wide variaty of people, while using horrible ethics and business practices to kill off the competition.. Yeah. I don't need that. The market created PC Gaming. Guys and girls out there that had ideas and vision, and only used Windows as a creative venue to express that idea. I guarentee you their minds could, and would, have been able to realize their ideas on Linux, or Mac, or any other platform that might have been, had Windows not been allowed to destroy everything. To think otherwise, is very narrow-minded.Personally, I think we need Windows as much as we need x86. Not in the slightest.Umm... No we do not.[/citation]

Without a mass used OS in home computers, pc gaming would not be as large as it is now, evil schemes or not, the truth is that for most people, they will always prefer simplicity and microsoft tries very hard to keep it that way, by having only their products in stores.
Imagine the fuss if there were 100+ different OS products in stores, all from different companies... with different reccomendations and so on.
It's easy to hate a company and to see their evil deeds, but the irony is that we actually prefer it that way.

 

[Khimera2000]

So mych flak giong back and fourth. A PC is a PC, regardless of what softwear is running, every one is free to choose what OS they want to run. There all good at what they do, its all about what you want to do with it primarily. PC users have a choice thats what makes it so great we can choose the parts in our system, or have a company do it for us.

Any how... every one knows the fun OS is linux never have i spent so much time tweeking so much little things, and never have i learned so much about how me computer works till i opend up terminal and went nuts.

This looks like its going to be intresting. hopefully MS dosent drop the support for other platforms. Maybe it will get me more intrestead in skype. Right now I use both google and hotmail. Google is nice because I can make calls with it, and it intergrates well with ubuntu. With a couple of extras installed I can get google voice notifications right on my desktop

Hotmail on the other hand makes it really easy for me to set up extra E-mail account to use for certain people. setting up several E-mails for family/friends, school/buisness, and a last one for entertainment.

Right now I do not use any of MSN's voice services. I just find google voice more conveniant for that. If this can provide a service that can compete with google Im all for it...Ill probably link the phone number to my google voice account any how

From the way things sound people are already bad mouthing this deal before we even know what exactly there going to do with it. These people are morans, 100%. Companies dont do acquisitions for the intent of loosing money, and a company like microsoft dosent spend 8 billion and not have a plan. For every one thats bad mouthing this deal tell me what happened? Whats the bad product thats out right now that uses skype technolagy with the microsoft name brand. Tell me where your evidance and proof is.

MS has worked pritty hard the last couple of years to rework its softwear, and I can see the fruits of there effert in win7, and the new version of IE 9 which crashes far less then the other two. There trying to make up for mistakes that they made in the past, and they did a chunk of it mostly on there own. Unlike some other company that had to Rip off the open source to stay competitive (the reason why I will never buy an apple product again), alot of the hard work was put into win7.

Some of there ideas migh not work, and some will. Lets save the criticisim for when they fail, or actually do something worth criticising

 

[Tomtompiper]

Instead of running fake stories about murderers (NOT) being caught by X-Box games, Tom's could get their finger out and do a cross platform test of alternative VOIP products, you know something useful for a change.. What are the chances?

 

[razercultmember1]

Maybe they can fix my atiumdag.dll error...

 

[Guest]

Considering all the alternatives to Skype I dont see much of a problem in the future. Here are some great Skype alternatives. You can find them here http/surreystore.com/cms/apple/51-best-video-calling-apps.html

 

[sa1nt]

This was way more shocking than Osama's death for me...

 

[matthew_nicho2]

Yet another thing Microsoft will buy and say they made themselves, and everyone will believe it.

 

[Guest]

I see Microsoft running Skype into the ground, leaving Google's voice services the winner of all of this. They're going to attempt to use their regular dirty tricks to lock people into other Windows technologies, and combined with their general incompetence, loyal Skype customers will flee en masse to Google.

I also see MS running Nokia into the ground for the benefit of LG, Samsung, and HTC.

 

[molo9000]

[citation][nom]orkie[/nom]Without a mass used OS in home computers, pc gaming would not be as large as it is now, evil schemes or not, the truth is that for most people, they will always prefer simplicity and microsoft tries very hard to keep it that way, by having only their products in stores.Imagine the fuss if there were 100+ different OS products in stores, all from different companies... with different reccomendations and so on. It's easy to hate a company and to see their evil deeds, but the irony is that we actually prefer it that way.[/citation]

What you are describing is a natural monopoly.

The problem is that Microsoft has abused it's monopoly position time and time again. They've always lagged behind in innovation (what was the last innovation started by Microsoft?), asked horrendous prices for their products and crushed competition whenever they could.

Bill Gates was the richest man in the world for 13 years while nobody has made any serious money off operating systems!

 

[Guest]

Maybe Skype has its headquarters in Luxembourg, taxation there is not that high. Hopefully some of 8.5 billion will get back to USA as private money.

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

[citation][nom]matthew_nicho2[/nom]Yet another thing Microsoft will buy and say they made themselves, and everyone will believe it.[/citation]

I believe you mixed up MS and Apple

[citation][nom]They're going to attempt to use their regular dirty tricks to lock people into other Windows technologies[/citation]

Such as? Never noticed Windows locking me in any way! I can use OpenOffice here (though MS Office 2007 is better...), it has full OpenGL support - where's the locking? It makes sense MS won't let DirectX anywhere else - so what? Use OpenGL - I'd benefit from that, since I have nVidia GPU and nVidia is better with OpenGL =)

[citation][nomI also see MS running Nokia into the ground for the benefit of LG, Samsung, and HTC.[/citation]

That IS true, and so sad... Nokia used to be the best.

So, I've noticed a bunch of people completely misunderstanding my comment:

WE NEED Windows. No Windows - no PC gaming.

By that, I meant that Windows is the only PC OS today that supports proper gaming. (Please don't say that so does Mac, the number of games and their hardware make that seem like a joke.) I'm not a fanboy of anything - as you might have noticed, I also favor Linux when it comes to serious tasks (networking, programming, etc) and Android (smartphones). I am a fanboy - and recommend the same for everyone! - of something that is the absolute best for your particular purposes, all things taken into account. When it is PC gaming, it is Windows. Simply because all the games are extremely easy to install if your config supports them and are extremely easy to mess around with (mods, patches, editing game configs, etc.), and the OS itself is very stable and flexible.

Let's not forget it WAS Microsoft who popularized PCs. Not Apple, not Google, not Linux. It was Windows, despite all the s**t people threw at the BSODs and crashes. I agree, W95 and W2K were horrible. Ever since XP SP2 came out - no problems whatsoever. Any Windows problem is the result of the user's mistake.

what was the last innovation started by Microsoft?

WHAT innovation do you want in the world of OS? Innovation is only relevant for hardware! Windows 7 supports all the hardware (unlike Mac OS - still no dual-GPU support) and if you miss something, install a program that does it for you.

Coming back to the topic - I hope MS does some good with Skype. I HOPE. We all do. Doesn't mean they will, though =(

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

[citation][nom]scuba dave[/nom].Personally, I think we need Windows as much as we need x86. [/citation]

Totally. Because ARM is powerful enough to run everything - even Crysis. I think Intel disagrees with you here - I believe that they know what they're doing, seeing how their CPUs get better and better every year and no one can keep up, and they're not anywhere near ditching x86.

Or is that an indication that we REALLY need Windows? =)

 

[Rab1d-BDGR]

[citation][nom]Crazy Hitchhiker[/nom]*sigh* There goes linux support for skype...[/citation]

Well let's hope that it gets replaced with a GPL'd VoIP technology then and Skype becomes irrelevant.

I would begin spelling it "$kype" in homage to its new owners, but as skype has never turned a profit it somehow seems inappropriate.

 

[eddieroolz]

I feel that $8.4billion is a tad overpriced for what is just a chat service, but it certainly gives Microsoft a lot of potential and a head start in video chat/voice chatting on the PC and on the go.

 

[ericburnby]

Seeing all the haters bitch and complain about MS buying Skype actually makes me glad they did.