Microsoft's acquisition of Skype is a done deal | Hacker News Reader

Microsoft's acquisition of Skype is a done deal

blogs.skype.com

66 pointslatch43 comments

Any update on Skype's stock-options scandal (http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/26/skypes-worthless-employee-s...) ?

I can't find any recent news. Did some employees fight back?

I am hoping that Microsoft will roll out a virtual PBX system based on Skype. Where employers will get a separate account for that organization. Advantages of this offering would be,

* Zero setup cost. Architecture is already built. No need for setting up complex telephony system.

* Reliability. No questions about that. It is so much reliable that even news channels like BBC and Aljazeera arrange video conferencing with Skype.

* Security. From the first day Skype was focused on security of their phone calls/connection. It's P2P architecture also leverages that.

* Able to call everywhere. With Skype you can make phone call to major countries. They have contracts with telcos in many countries.

* Cross platform. Skype is available for windows,linux,OSX, Android, iPhone, Symbian. I mean virtually every platform. It is a great advantage.

Also it is a very good brand name known to everyone. Overall I think Skype is a great purchase deal for Microsoft.

Can someone explain the reason for downvoting?

Sorry for complaining for downvoting. I know downvoting without explaining the reason is discouraged here. Specially the people here gets downvoting right have 500+ points by giving insightful comment :).

Spot on. There is a huge vacuum in the market where a product should be. A dozen employees spread out should be able to take calls on a central number, have an automated attendant, and hand off calls to each other. PhoneBooth.com could have been it, but they're too focused on selling gear. Someone is going to own this.

There are already companies doing this with actual open standards (SIP, IAX2) for very reasonable prices. E.g. onsip.com -- I've been using their services for years now.

I thought that's what Microsoft Lync was - http://lync.microsoft.com

Yes that's right. But if Microsoft embeds the brand of Skype instead of live it has good chance to attract more businesses.

I see a big box telling me to install Silverlight. Seriously?

Can't wait for the next Skype for Linux release.

It took me a while to realise it wasn't a screenshot he was using in the post.

I have to admit I didn't realize it wasn't a screenshot until I came here to see what people's comments were.

Came here to comment on the same thing.

Makes me so excited for their future... /not

Seriously? Do you not understand what a plugin is? Takes about 30 seconds to install one time and you're done.

But no, you'd rather spend that 30 seconds replying with your complaint. That's because you're a hater. Once you realize that and fix it, life won't be so difficult anymore and you won't be annoying other people with your petty and off-topic complaints.

Given his comment it's a good bet he's running Linux. There is no Silverlight for Linux so his complaint is pretty legitimate .

And complaining about complaining is also kind of hilariously self-unaware.

Except there is a plugin for Linux. It's called Moonlight. Why wouldn't you just install that? It worked fine for me on my Linux box as well as on OS X.

Also there's a difference between complaining just because you hate Microsoft and calling out a hater.

You know what? You're right, and I apologize. You have a fair point.

What made me react the way I did was the tone of your reply. I understand now that you were responding with a real and constructive solution, but the hate it was couched in made me read it as hate responding to hate.

I guess my question is: if you really believe he's just a hater, why respond at all? Do you imagine you'll change his position or behavior?

Oh, sorry I didn't see that you were not the original commenter. None of this was directed at you. My original response was in proportion to the original comment.

I think that responding in the way that I did does change behavior. Kind of like when you fight back with a bully, you make it not worth their time even if you get beat up. It doesn't always work, but a lot of the time it does.

Yes there is. It's called Moonlight. I went there in Linux Chrome AND Firefox with Moonlight installed and watched the video fine.

Hopefully they will announce a Kinect enabled version of skype soon. That would be a killer application aimed at taking the bite out of Cisco's consumer business.

I don't know what it is, but ever since this started, they were updating more and more - and it wasn't getting better. I've had more dropped calls, more connection problems, more updates I don't want, plugins I didn't ask for and generally been less satisfied with skype as a product. I just noticed in the newest version they automatically put on my computer that I can't even adjust the volume of my calls anymore.

Out of curiosity, what OS are you using? I'm on OSX Lion and I have found that lately, the quality and reliability of my Skype calls has increased significantly. I haven't had a dropped call or poor voice quality in a long time, whereas problems used to be quite frequent. Of course, it could just be that I've hit a lucky streak or that the problems were more related to my ISP.

Windows XP/7. ISP is generally pretty bad (comcast) but no more than usual, and this has been a long trend.

If only this gets integrated with the windows phone, I will be so happy. With the FB chat integration I have already dropped my sms plan as most of my messaging is now via FB. If I get skype, I will go on bare minimum voice plan too.

Ditto on the WP7 integration, think it would be a killer feature. Would fit perfectly with the model they've taken with 3rd party platforms; merging account details from multiple sources (e.g. twitter, facebook), so click on a contact and "Call with Skype", rather than going into a seperate app.

Very interesting how many Apple products are in their video about the merger - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ByWVVovdDg. I'd imagine plenty of Apple products would naturally be in use on Skype's campus, but seems like Microsoft would have wanted to play up the PC part of the equation, making Windows look essential to Skype's success. Perhaps they're trying to reassure people that Skype will stay cross-platform?

The infographics data is deceptive.

1.8 Billion Minutes of Video calls (All people minutes on skype for year); 916 hours of movies made per year (movies made by production house); 9 years of average time spent on watching TV (Time spent by a single consumer)

How these things are related are beyond my understanding. It looks like somehow the 1.8 Billion had to be made appear bigger , so they put some filler data along with it.

If they compared it to "Minutes spent on cellphone/landline" it wouldn't look quite so impressive.

I did a quick look for some statistics on cellphone/landline usage, but I'd expect it's a few added 0's on the end of Skype usage still.

This is great because it means google voice is going to be free for years.

42% of calls are video. Impressive trend. This is the drive for Skype's high valuation.

I wouldn't be surprised if it gets packaged into windows/office.

coming soon, skype editions, starter with no video, professional up to 2 people, enterprise, and 90 days trial edition.

and all current skype will be called skype express, with 5 minutes call limitation.

or skype name will be changed to, microsoft windows video and call manager.

That would mean they'd have to get rid of Office Communicator (the professional version of Windows Live Messenger) to make room for Skype.

How ironic would it be if the catalyst for an actual decent Linux Skype client is Skype being bought by Microsoft!

...not that I'm holding my breath.

I still have Skype 2.8 and refuse to update, because even before Microsoft got involved, the newer versions of Skype were so inconsistent in communicating with other versions of Skype.

But lately, I've noticed Skype freezing on opening. It's probably my 3 year old MacBook Pro, but I like to think it's Microsoft somehow. :)

So I guess Skype for Android will never get Video on my Galaxy Tab :-(

Skype on my Galaxy Tab already does video. The problem is that it only uses the rear camera. So you can see the person you are talking to and they can see your feet or you can show your face but can't see any of the controls or the person you are talking to. Maybe a periscope would work :)

Galaxy Tab 10.1?

Original 7"

a mirror would work

I'll tape one to the back :)

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