The future of Skype - Microsoft to buy...

[AllezCat]

I love Skype. Whether cruising/sailing/or NYC troglodyte.
Is ubiquitous in internet cafes around the world.
Great on the boat too - more often easier to get wifi (paid or not) than cell phones - which require signal and compatibility - cdma, gsm etc..
Skype is reliable - can call/txt cell phones around the world cheaper too, not just skype to skype.

When skype automatically recharges my account($10) -my credit card shuts down - requiring much time to prove the charge is not fake. (now only use PayPal).
I have been very successful is a programmer - exclusively with and for MS stuff -it is a love/hate relationship - and I paid - $10k for software - 3k or so renewals - with free unlimited reboots.

What will happen to skype under the for extreme profit and unreliability of ms?????


Microsoft gets antitrust approval to buy Skype - Yahoo! Finance

[simonmd]

Can only get better. I understand they intend to build it into their future opperating systems so more and more people will use it and the ecconomies of scale must mean that the price will be reduced further.

Of course, if you use it for PC to PC talk, then it will always be free, can't complain about that.

[AllezCat]

Originally Posted by simonmd

always be free

I hope so.
this is what I am inquiring about.
but I doubt it....

[simonmd]

Of course it will. Yahoo, AOL, msn messengers all provide pc to pc chat via text, mic and or cam for free and there are countless more chat rooms and social networks that also provide the same service.

If Skype started charging for pc to pc calls, it would shut down overnight, simple.

[AllezCat]

I didn't actually read the article until now.
Seems they will use it to expand office- so pay for office to get it???
then the first comment in the article:

"Another large corporation microsoft will flush down the toilet.
They bought Danger/sidekick and shut down the servers, then just dumped everybody that depended on the danger/sidekick because microsofts tech people had no idea how they worked.
Wait for 1 year and microsoft will shut down Skype's servers like they did Danger.

Microsoft, AT&T, BofA, are the big bullies and care less about people's needs."


hope there is a good alternative on the horizon....

[witzgall]

MS does not price based on economies of scale. They price based on what the market will bear.

Chris

[crazyhorse77]

Originally Posted by witzgall

MS does not price based on economies of scale. They price based on what the market will bear.

Chris

You speak the truth.

Microsoft have in to past released software for free they have aquired only charge for it a few revisions later. Hopefully the deal does not go through

[ausaviator]

It is likely to not be called Skype, it will probably be "Link" which is the current replacement for OCS (Office Communicator).

[Pblais]

What will happen to skype under the for extreme profit and unreliability of ms?

Nothing so far. There really are no serious rumors at this point with what will change. It's not like Skype was never out to make money so don't think that wasn't true. They just cashed in for the big score up front. The same promotions are still going on and no changes can be seen as far as I can tell.

It is likely to not be called Skype, it will probably be "Link" which is the current replacement for OCS (Office Communicator).

Clearly not. It's not even close to the same thing. The MSoft product name in "Lync" and it existed a long time before the buy out. No such product called "Link". They won't be changing the name they paid that much for. It may be the technology or the idea that no one else will get the technology. Lots of defensive moves in the market these days.

[ausaviator]

Apologies for my spelling. Lync, yes.

The Skype technology will be integrated into Lync ASAP and who knows what will happen to the name Skype, perhaps it might be Microsoft Skype.

[rowingdude]

I don't see what the problem is. If skype is engulfed into the Microsoft conglomerate and becomes unusable as it is now, a new alternative will come out because that's what what happens in a true free market (which the internet is).

Why worry about what tomorrow brings, live for today and thank God you have air in your lungs and wake behind your ship.

[Boracay]

The fine print at the bottom left hand corner of my Skype screen has 17,074,275 people online. That's now. There could be hundreds, if not thousands of times more than that registered.

Is Microsoft really going to blow that many customers off?

I've started using Skype in preparation for the big one and have been surprised just how good it is.

So good that senior crew now sways I can cancel the old landline...