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Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

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Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#211

Post by JoeAltmaier »

riams wrote: post #207
jsz0 wrote: post #87

This is Microsoft's ICQ moment. Overpaying for a company at the moment when its core competency is becoming a commodity. Does anyone have the slightest bit of loyalty to Skype? Of course not. They're going to use whichever video chat comes built into their SmartPhone, tablet, computer, etc. They're going to use FaceBook's eventual video chat service or something Google offers. No one is going to actively seek out Sky…

"They're going to use whichever video chat comes built into their SmartPhone, tablet, computer, etc. They're going to use FaceBook's eventual video chat service or something Google offers." Really? I'm thinking the barriers to switch from Skype are pretty high due to the vast amount of users Skype has. Why switch to a slightly more polished product when you have no one to communicate with there? We have to remember t…

They were pretty quick to adopt Skype. Its only seconds to load another VOIP-style client, and no time at all to use the one that came preinstalled. And you always know who you want to talk to on Skype, you're not calling the flower shop or anything, its your brother-in-law or whoever, so you can arrange for them to try another client in seconds.

So the barrier to switching is pretty low.

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#212

Post by kayoone »

They will use Skype like Apple uses Facetime. Get it natively into every Windows PC, Windows Smartphone and Tablet and let people (video)call each other easily. With the userbase MS has, this doesnt seem like a bad idea.

Imagine Scheduling Meetings in Outlook with automatic Video calls to everyone involved. Could be huge in the b2b market

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#214

Post by djb_hackernews »

utnick wrote: post #130
jsz0 wrote: post #87

This is Microsoft's ICQ moment. Overpaying for a company at the moment when its core competency is becoming a commodity. Does anyone have the slightest bit of loyalty to Skype? Of course not. They're going to use whichever video chat comes built into their SmartPhone, tablet, computer, etc. They're going to use FaceBook's eventual video chat service or something Google offers. No one is going to actively seek out Sky…

Not 100% sure, but I think the moneymaker and core competency for skype is not video chat. I have a skype account, I pay for a personalized USA number that people can call with their phones and reach me around the world, I also pay for the ability to dial any number around the world. All of my work contacts also have skype accounts which we use to communicate. It would take quite a bit to get me to move off of Skype.

Just get a Google Voice number, hook it up to your mobile phones sip client, and enjoy the ability to make and receive calls when ever you have a data connection.(Free to receive but international rates apply when calling out, but US and Canada are free)

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#215

Post by smackfu »

r00fus wrote: post #89
ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #31

Goodbye "Skype®", hello "Microsoft Windows Live Connect for Windows Live®"

A bit hyperbolic, but amusing. Why doesn't Microsoft adopt meaningful brands that aren't 4 words long (Microsoft Windows for Workgroups) or vapid and diluted (ie, live)?

Because it's so hard to come up with distinct unused names that work worldwide. Look at Apple, they aren't really any better (Thunderbolt, Air, Apple TV).

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#216

Post by smackfu »

Duff wrote: post #74
dstein wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dividends reward short term shareholders. Capital reinvestment rewards long term shareholders (if it's successful).

10 years ago, Microsoft was $35. Today it is $25 and change. Not very rewarding. Microsoft is like the electric utility of the technology business -- they should embrace that or wake up and break up the company into manageable parts. Buying Skype? That's not creating shareholder value.

It's funny that this comment is in response to someone suggesting a dividend, yet completely ignores the dividend in mentioning the stock price over time.

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#217

Post by smackfu »

hessenwolf wrote: post #172

"Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and J.P.Morgan Chase & Co. advised Skype on the deal, according to people familiar with the matter. Microsoft is not using any financial advisers for the deal, the people added." I see. That makes the 8.5 billion (price + debt) make more sense.

Funny, but financial advisors on acquisitions are just people who want a few percent for doing nothing.

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#218

Post by freechoice1 »

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 are annoyed by Skypes encryption due to they cannot listen and spy on those talking there.

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#219

Post by blub »

bad_user wrote: post #200
blub wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that employees have ethics does have an effect on the actions that the company takes, but that doesn't mean that the company itself "has ethics". At most we can say that a company employs ethical individuals - still - that won't necessarily lead to ethical decisions. Things like peer-pressure, the board of directors, profits, strategy, market pressure and so on can make good people do bad things. Historicall…

You're arguing semantics, which is useless, and also very wrong. People themselves have ethics because that's the only way of living in a society -- discerning between good and evil, making decisions that aren't hurtful to others -- these are standards we live by because they work best in improving our own quality of life. Historically, we can see that people (especially leaders) are as ethical as the laws of their s…

The original message said that "MS and FB are practically the same ethics-wise to me". In that context I replied that income sources are a much better predictor of company behaviour than so-called company ethics.

You can look at a company and try to analyze its decisions from an ethical point of view, but that is just using a convenient and familiar simplification to understand a complex entity. One can say that a company is "good" or "bad" or "immoral", one could even say that it has goals and ambitions as someone mentioned earlier, but how useful is this really in trying to understand that company and in predictiing its actions?

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#220

Post by bergie »

william42 wrote: post #43
joshzayin wrote: post #4

If this goes through, I wonder what would happen to Skype's Linux and Mac support. I'd hope MS would still support it, but I don't think they have any Linux software currently (I'm not positive about that, so please correct me if I'm wrong) and the Mac version of Office is always delayed compared to the Windows version. I hope Skype doesn't similarly languish.

I've used the Linux version of Skype. It's rather bare-bones.

On N900, Skype is just another Telepathy plugin. This means it uses the same UIs and phone book as the GSM phone, Google Talk, SMS etc.
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