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Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

online.wsj.com

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Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#61

Post by pyre »

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.

One of Skype's major strengths is that you can use it to communicate with others regardless of operating system (for the most part... they don't have BeOS client, etc). Personally, I think there would be a large migration to something else if that changed:

1. Linux/Mac users would move because they had to.

2. Linux/Mac users that use Skype to communicate with long-distance friends and family would convince them to jump ship to another platform (if only to be able to do video conferencing).

3. People pissed off at MS would migrate on principle (though maybe only if there was a viable alternative to the way they currently use Skype).

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#62

Post by ChrisArchitect »

boyter wrote: post #58
ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #31

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

I doubt it. I would hazard a guess that a this is a mindshare acquisition not technology. It might be branded as "Microsoft Skype" but to drop the name Skype would be a seriously stupid move, and Microsoft is anything but stupid. Bureaucratic yes, but not stupid.

They'll keep it for sure, maybe just sneak an MS logo in there. It's one of those brands that's achieved 'verb' status for god sakes.

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#63

Post by LarryA »

mgkimsal wrote: post #13

A few thoughts: When we see the mac version stagnate, we won't be able to say MS has sabotaged it - skype did that before on their own. The linux version has never been on parity with the others - will it be officially killed? Might MS actually put resources in to it to make it work as well as the others? Overall, good on MS for doing this. I'm assuming this may bring on some more interesting dynamics to the google v…

Here's what will happen:

After acquisition, MS will put out a lot of PR saying that cross-platform is "very important" in this new acquisition, they will even release an updated version on cross-platform. ...of course that update will be screwed up as it has been "fixed" to make all versions more "windows friendly" at the expense of features that may be better on other platforms (i.e. scrap the Mac interface, kill open protocols, replace working code with .net tech, etc.).

Then after a few months of user complaints there will be MS's product performance review, since after alienating the Linux and Mac folk, they will declare there is no viable market for those platforms any more and close those divisions and thus drag it into the Windows only division.

Yep, I've been around for several of those (FoxBase/FoxPro, Bungie Games, Flight Simulator, etc. to just name a few) - if they were selling a shirt about it I'd have already worn it out.

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#64

Post by brisance »

lotusleaf1987 wrote: post #60
brisance wrote: post #57

I fail to see how this is a wise business decision. Skype has been losing money for a long time, and with cheap/free competition like Google video chat and FaceTime etc, why would MSFT invest in this?

I think you answered your own question: to compete with FaceTime and Google Voice. I think they're afraid to sit this race out the way they did mobile and get left behind again.

Is their own videoconferencing solution that broken to begin with? Seven billion is a big chunk of change. And tech M&As typically do not end well.

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#65

Post by bane »

trout wrote: post #32

Microsoft owns the desktop - that's their cash cow. For large businesses they (basically) have to buy outlook / exchange. They throw powerpoint, visio, word, excel on top of that, plus the operating system, and they own it. From an operating system standpoint, there's not any real threat. From a productivity suites perspective, there's a bit more threat from cloud, but it's still comparatively small. Same can be said…

I find it ridiculous that I can't find another desktop email client that will natively work with exchange/MAPI, and Microsoft knows it.

http://projects.gnome.org/evolution/

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#66

Post by dstein »

philwelch wrote: post #49
dstein wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paying a dividend will not save Microsoft. Even Microsoft realizes that.

It will serve the long term interests of Microsoft shareholders; sadly, Microsoft doesn't realize that.

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

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#67

Post by ChrisArchitect »

if MS absorbs the Skype technology into their own IM/chat/communications systems - and skype users are left out on a limb - where do they go?.

They stay with the MS product line happily perhaps, or they go to __________?

gChat/open/xmpp? Jump all the way to Apple FaceTime (seems a far jump). Or with forthcoming p2p flash video ease-of-dev/ease-of-use, does this all just become super common/easy to access?

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#68

Post by firebones »

neworbit wrote: post #56

MS would do a lot better to buy 200 promising startups (especially in the mobile space)

I get the sentiment, but do you really think a) that there are 200 worthwhile startups in the mobile space, or b) that there are 200 promising startups that you could acquire for an average of $350 million each that would have anywhere near the chance of establishing a network effect as big as Skype's in any kind of reasonable internet timeframe (say, in the next 5 years)?
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