Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#241

Post by technomancy » Tue, May 10, 2011, 2:22 PM UTC

alnayyir wrote: post #97

damncabbage wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is great. It does pretty much everything the Windows client does (chat, voice, video, desktop sharing), without the big, gaudy, annoying interface. I fear that it'll just go away, or actively get shut down by compatibility changes. (My friends and I practically live on Skype. The one killer feature for us is persistent chatrooms; it's like IRC, except when I log in I get all the missing chat history I didn't ge…

>it's like IRC, except when I log in I get all the missing chat history I didn't get while I was logged out What? screen + irssi + /lastlog your_nick

We actually built our own IRC client with persistent history: https://github.com/danlarkin/subrosa Such a relief to be able to pick my own client.

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#242

Post by jcampbell1 » Tue, May 10, 2011, 2:32 PM UTC

tybris wrote: post #180

jcampbell1 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is Microsoft's ICQ moment Is that a reference to ICQ's "Uh-oh"? If so, I fully agree. If Apple stock is priced to perfection, MSFT is priced to stupidity. This kind of wasted earnings is exactly why Microsoft stock sells at a mere 10x earnings. Investors are fully aware that a large portion of all future earnings will be wasted.

No it's not. MSFT is just a sane stock priced my normal investors who want a balanced portfolio and don't believe in fairy tales.

You are ignoring the facts, Microsofts stock price assumes they are not going to generate incremental profits from their new businesses such as Bing, or the Windows phone. I won't comment on whether I think that is accurate, but it is simply what the current valuation implies.

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#243

Post by mmcconnell1618 » Tue, May 10, 2011, 2:36 PM UTC

What does Skype's patent portfolio look like? Could this be a way for Microsoft to shutdown other video chat services or at least extract a hefty license fee?

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#244

Post by jeza » Tue, May 10, 2011, 2:37 PM UTC

whatusername wrote: post #234

jeza wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though in terms of your average joe, no one seems to know about ICQ anymore. Those that do seem to remember it as something of the past (remember those days when we all chatted on ICQ?). Ironically though in Australia it was MSN that took over the market from ICQ. I guess because so many people had a hotmail account and the client came with their computer. Now if only people would switch so quickly to Jabber/XMPP as…

MSN had one killer feature for me over ICQ. Server-side friend lists. When my PC was replaced - my MSN list was there. My ICQ had to be re-added.

This was eventually added to ICQ but probably too late.

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#245

Post by jeza » Tue, May 10, 2011, 2:40 PM UTC

jasonlotito wrote: post #201

jeza wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though in terms of your average joe, no one seems to know about ICQ anymore. Those that do seem to remember it as something of the past (remember those days when we all chatted on ICQ?). Ironically though in Australia it was MSN that took over the market from ICQ. I guess because so many people had a hotmail account and the client came with their computer. Now if only people would switch so quickly to Jabber/XMPP as…

Maybe for the average Joe in the US, but it's still widely used around the world.

I specifically mentioned Australia. Though I have observed trends for IM market share vary a lot more in different countries. So it's probably true that there is still some country where ICQ dominates. By the way, isn't AOL IM still the main game in the US?

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#246

Post by lallysingh » Tue, May 10, 2011, 2:59 PM UTC

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #209

alanh wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed completely. Skype certainly has brand recognition and people know it’s “the” way to keep in touch across the ocean, but — and I don’t have studies to back this up — I bet it’s one of those brands people know but don’t feel very fond of. Skype is kind of annoying, for one, and is less reliable and more complicated than traditional telephone solutions (by virtual necessity, but that doesn’t matter). This should…

But also its the "facebook effect", where you go there because everybody else is there. So that's in Skype's favor.

When a friend finds something better than skype, I'll go over with them. Network effects are bidirectional.

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#247

Post by repoleved » Tue, May 10, 2011, 2:59 PM UTC

This marks the death of Skype on the Mac.

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#248

Post by technomancy » Tue, May 10, 2011, 3:02 PM UTC

freechoice1 wrote: post #218

Recently when I started to outsource work I noticed everyone had Skype and wanted to use Skype. Skype is the no1 general platform for reliable business communications today. I got amazed myself how many actually use Skype in this sector. Skype is the new msn for voice chat and has been for quite a while. One of the reasons Skype is so attractive for businesses is the encryption methods it uses. I know the governments…

> I know the governments are annoyed by Skypes encryption due to they cannot listen and spy on those talking there.

Which governments? I've heard that the US and China have the keys.

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#249

Post by jokermatt999 » Tue, May 10, 2011, 3:15 PM UTC

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #237

gsmaverick wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very few people are going to go through the hassle of installing a new client just to make a phone call if a good solution, which both parties have, already exists.

Well, they did that for Skype. And if it comes with the platform, that barrier is gone. But yes, there is market inertia and Skype has it.

Most people I know who use Skype didn't have a video/computer calling solution before Skype. The barrier to installation for a new service that is much lower than switching to a competing service. If they're just getting into that kind of service, the benefits are quite large. Switching to a competing service has much less utility to them, because they already have a solution for the main problem; in this example, calling people. Switching requires losing their old contacts (network effect) as well as learning a new system. To put it in equation:

Installing something like skype for the first time:

Total utility of program - hassle of installing and learning a new program = large benefit

Installing a competitor:

Marginal utility of somewhat better program - previously available contacts on old system - hassle of installing and learning a new program = much less benefit

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#250

Post by tsewlliw » Tue, May 10, 2011, 3:19 PM UTC

I always thought Skype and LinkedIn would be a really great match. But maybe this is an artifact of being introduced to both at the same time by the same person.